Amplified Bible
Ezra 8:23
23So we fasted and sought [help from] our God concerning this [matter], and He heard our plea.
Ezra 8:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.
- New International Version (NIV)So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
- English Standard Version (ESV)So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
- New King James Version (NKJV)So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.
Context of Ezra 8:23
21Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our children, and all our possessions. 22For I was ashamed to request troops and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, “The hand of our God is favorable toward all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who abandon (turn away from) Him.” So we fasted and sought [help from] our God concerning this [matter], and He heard our plea. 24Then I set apart twelve leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers (relatives), 25and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king, his advisers, his officials, and all Israel who were present there had offered.
Read all of Ezra 8Ezra 8:23 word by word
וַנָּצ֛וּמָה וַנְּבַקְשָׁ֥ה מֵאֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ עַל־זֹ֑את וַיֵּעָתֵ֖ר לָֽנוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ezra 8:23
- Nehemiah 9:1Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with dirt on their heads.
- Esther 4:16“Go, gather all the Jews that are present in Susa, and observe a fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids also will fast in the same way. Then I will go in to [see] the king [without being summoned], which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
- Daniel 9:3So I directed my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
- Luke 2:37and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She did not leave the [area of the] temple, but was serving and worshiping night and day with fastings and prayers.
- Acts 10:30Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour (3:00-4:00 p.m.); and a man [dressed] in bright, dazzling clothing suddenly stood before me,
- Jeremiah 29:12Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you.
- Jeremiah 33:3‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.’
- Jeremiah 50:4“In those days and at that time,” says the Lord, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will come up weeping [in repentance] as they come and seek the Lord their God [inquiring for and of Him].
- Ezra 8:31We set out from the river Ahava on the twelfth [day] of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and He rescued us from the hand of the enemy and those who lay in ambushes along the way.
- Deuteronomy 4:29But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
- 1 Chronicles 5:20They were given help against them, and the Hagrites were handed over to them, and all who were allied with them; for they cried out to God [for help] in the battle; and He granted their entreaty because they relied on and trusted in Him.
- 2 Chronicles 33:12But when he was in distress, he sought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
- Psalms 66:18If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it], The Lord will not hear [me];
- Isaiah 19:22The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing it; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to them and heal them.
- Matthew 7:7“ Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.
Commentaries on Ezra 8:23
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-23Verses 21-23 Ezra procured Levites to go with him; but what will that avail, unless he have God with him? Those who seek God, are safe under the shadow of his wings, even in their greatest dangers; but those who forsake him, are always exposed. When entering upon any new state of life, our care should be, to bring none of the guilt of the sins of our former condition into it. When we are in any peril, let us be at peace with God, and then nothing can do…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23fasted and petitioned: In the Old Testament, people often fasted while praying to show their need before God (1 Kings 21:9; 2 Chronicles 20:3; Nehemiah 1:4; Daniel 9:3).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 21-3621. Then I proclaimed a fast there--The dangers to travelling caravans from the Bedouin Arabs that prowl through the desert were in ancient times as great as they still are; and it seems that travellers usually sought the protection of a military escort. But Ezra had spoken so much to the king of the sufficiency of the divine care of His people that he would have blushed to apply for a guard of soldiers. Therefore he resolved that his followers should, by…Read the comment
Topics related to Ezra 8:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ezra 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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