²⁸ and who has extended his good favor^(A) to me before the king and his advisers and all the king’s powerful officials. Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me,^(B) I took courage and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

¹⁷ But the Lord stood at my side^(A) and gave me strength,^(B) so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.^(C) And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.^{(D) 18} The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack^(E) and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.^(F) To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.^(G)

⁸ And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel^(A) by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me,^(B) the king granted my requests.^(C)

¹⁸ Because the gracious hand of our God was on us,^(A) they brought us Sherebiah,^(B) a capable man, from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sherebiah’s sons and brothers, 18 in all;

⁵ But the eye of their God^(A) was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name^(A) will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,^[a](B) because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”^(C)

⁷ This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

I was cupbearer^(C) to the king.