⁶ So this Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a ^(A)scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all ^[a]he requested ^(B)because the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.

²⁸ and ^(A)has extended favor to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty officials. So I was strengthened according to ^(B)the hand of the Lord my God that was upon me, and I gathered ^[a]leading men from Israel to go up with me.