¹⁸ And ^(A)by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of ^(B)Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18;

¹⁵ “‘And ^(A)I will give you shepherds after my own heart, ^(B)who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

⁸ and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^(A)the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, ^(B)for the good hand of my God was upon me.

^28 (A)and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, 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.

²² For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, ^(A)“The hand of our God is for good on ^(B)all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.”

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.

^19 (A)The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their fathers.

²⁰ Brothers, ^(A)do not be children in your thinking. ^(B)Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be ^(C)mature.

²⁰ And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all ^(A)the magicians and ^(B)enchanters that were in all his kingdom.