¹² I slipped out during the night, taking only a few others with me. I had not told anyone about the plans God had put in my heart for Jerusalem. We took no pack animals with us except the donkey I was riding.

¹⁷ For God has put a plan into their minds, a plan that will carry out his purposes. They will agree to give their authority to the scarlet beast, and so the words of God will be fulfilled.

Ezra Praises the Lord

²⁷ Praise the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who made the king want to beautify the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem!

Titus and His Companions

¹⁶ But thank God! He has given Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have.

³³ “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

¹⁶ So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.^[a] He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.^[b]

⁴⁰ And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me.