English Standard Version
Ezra 8:23
23So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.
- New Living Translation (NLT)So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.
Context of Ezra 8:23
21Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 22For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, "The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him." So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. 24Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. 25And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present 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 people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads.
- Esther 4:16"Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish."
- Daniel 9:3Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
- Luke 2:37and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
- Acts 10:30And Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing
- Jeremiah 29:12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
- Jeremiah 33:3Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
- Jeremiah 50:4"In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the Lord their God.
- Ezra 8:31Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way.
- Deuteronomy 4:29But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- 1 Chronicles 5:20And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him.
- 2 Chronicles 33:12And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
- Psalms 66:18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- Isaiah 19:22And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
- Matthew 7:7"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it 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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries