And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you return to the Lord with all your heart, [then] take away the strange gods from your midst, and the groves, and prepare your hearts to serve the Lord, and serve Him only; and He shall deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.

O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel our fathers, preserve these things in the thoughts of the heart of Your people forever, and direct their hearts toward You.

And he did evil, for he did not set his heart on seeking the Lord.

Nevertheless [some] good things have been found in you, forasmuch as you did remove the groves from the land of Judah, and you directed your heart to seek after the Lord.

For if you have made your heart pure, and lifted up [your] hands towards Him;

The Lord has heard the desire of the poor: Your ear has inclined to the preparation of their heart;

My heart, O God, [is] ready, my heart [is] ready; I will sing; yes, I will sing psalms.

this Ezra came up out of Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him [leave], for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him in all things which he sought.

But his pleasure is in the law of the Lord; and in His law will he meditate day and night.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting souls; the testimony of the Lord is faithful, instructing babes.

I walked also at large; for I sought out Your commandments.

I have seen an end of all perfection; [but] Your commandment is very broad.

You have made me wiser than my enemies [in] Your commandment; for it is mine forever.

I understand more that the aged; because I have sought out Your commandments.

And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and you shall observe and do these commands.

Whoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men thus, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does [them] and teaches [them], he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, I will compare him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock:

If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Blessed are those who do His commandments, so that their right shall be to the tree of life, and they may enter by the gates into the city.

And you, Ezra, as the wisdom of God [is] in your hand, appoint scribes and judges, that they may judge for all the people beyond the river, all that know the law of the Lord your God; and you shall make it known to him that knows not.

They shall declare Your ordinances to Jacob, and Your law to Israel; they shall place incense in [the time of] Your wrath continually upon Your altar.

And with them [were] the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tobadonijah, Levites, and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests.

And they taught in Judah, and [there was] with them the Book of the Law of the Lord, and they passed through the cities of Judah, and taught the people.

And Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites, and those that had good understanding of the Lord, and they completely kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days, offering peace offerings, and confessing to the Lord God of their fathers.

And the seventh month arrived, and the children of Israel [were settled] in their cities. And all the people were gathered as one man to the broad place before the Water Gate, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord commanded Israel.

And he read in it from sunrise until midday, before the men and the women; and they understood [it], and the ears of all the people [were attentive] to the Book of the Law.

And Ezra opened the book before all the people, for he was above the people; and it came to pass when he had opened it, [that] all the people stood.

And Jeshua, Bani and Sherebiah instructed the people in the law, and the people [stood] in their place.

And Nehemiah and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites, and they that instructed the people, spoke and said to all the people, It is a holy day to the Lord our God; do not mourn, nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law.

For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.

The former account I made concerning all things, O Theophilus, which Jesus began both to do and teach,

It is necessary, therefore, for a bishop to be irreproachable, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, well-behaved, hospitable, skillful at teaching;

preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all patience and teaching.

But you speak the things which suit sound doctrine.

Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.