^6 (A)“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow ^[a]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? ^(A)It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, ^(B)“If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. ^(C)All such boasting is evil.

The Return to Jerusalem

³¹ Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And ^(A)the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road.

² Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, ^(A)you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord said to you, ^(B)‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.’ ”

Fasting and Prayer for Protection

²¹ Then I ^(A)proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might ^(B)humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the ^(C)right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.