⁶ this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe ^(A)skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, ^(B)for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

^28 (A)and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.