⁵ So my God gave me the idea to call together all the nobles and leaders of the city, along with the ordinary citizens, for registration. I had found the genealogical record of those who had first returned to Judah. This is what was written there:

¹⁶ So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.

²⁹ That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

Titus and His Companions

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

⁵ It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.

¹⁰ But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

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!