On the twelfth day of the first month {\cf2\super [57]} we left the Ahava River and started toward Jerusalem. God was with us, and he protected us from enemies and robbers along the way.
The Lord showed his true love to me\par in front of the king, his advisers\par and the king’s important officials.\par The Lord God was with me,\par so I was brave.\par I gathered together the leaders of Israel\par to go with me to Jerusalem.\par
Ezra \{and the group with him\} left Babylon on the first day of the first month. He arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month. The Lord God was with Ezra.
I, (Ezra) called all those people to meet together at the river that flows toward Ahava. We camped at that place for three days. I learned there were priests in that group, but there were no Levites.
You will see the things that you truly enjoy.\par You will be free and grow like grass.\par The Lord’s servants will see his power,\par but the Lord’s enemies will see his anger.\par
But God helped me, and he is still helping me today. With God’s help I am standing here today and telling all people the things I have seen. But I am saying nothing new. I am saying the same things that Moses and the prophets {\cf2\super [498]} said would happen.