Ezra’s Journey to Jerusalem

¹⁵ I assembled the exiles at the Ahava Canal, and we camped there for three days while I went over the lists of the people and the priests who had arrived. I found that not one Levite had volunteered to come along.

³¹ We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19^[a] and started off to Jerusalem. And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from enemies and bandits along the way.

²¹ And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled.

⁷ Some of the people of Israel, as well as some of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and Temple servants, traveled up to Jerusalem with him in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes’ reign.

¹⁵ Then I came to the colony of Judean exiles in Tel-abib, beside the Kebar River. I was overwhelmed and sat among them for seven days.

Psalm 137

¹³ On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.

A Vision of Living Beings

1 On July 31^[a] of my thirtieth year,^[b] while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.