And the hand of the Lord was [present] to give them one heart to come, to do according to the commands of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.

O Lord our God, give us peace, for You have rendered to us all things.

For this is My covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: after those days, says the Lord, I will surely put My laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts. And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.

and they shall be to Me a people, and I will be to them a God.

John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed, and turned to the Lord.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,

make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing before Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Exercising His will He begat us by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

that He may turn our hearts toward Him to walk in all His ways, and to keep all His commandments and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers.

But who am I, and what [is] my people, that we have been able to be thus forward [in offering] to You? For all things [are] Yours, and of Your own have we given You,

O Lord our God, as for all this abundance which I have prepared that a house should be built to Your holy name, it is of Your hand, and all [is] Yours.

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.

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians, and he issued a proclamation through all his kingdom, and that in writing, saying,

Then the chiefs of the families of Judah and Benjamin arose, and the priests, and the Levites, all whose spirit the Lord stirred up to go up to build the house of the Lord that [is] in Jerusalem.

Blessed [be] the Lord God of our fathers, who has put it thus into the heart of the king, to glorify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem;

And the king said to me, For what do you ask thus? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

With You is dominion in the day of Your power, in the splendors of Your saints; I have begotten You from the womb before the morning.

Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness.

Incline not my heart to evil things, to employ pretexts for sins, with men who work iniquity: and let me not unite with their choice ones.

As a rush of water, so is the king's heart in God's hand: He turns it wherever He wishes.

It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to Me.

And He said, "Because of this I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

But we are obligated to give thanks to God always for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth,

to which He called you through our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,

not by works of righteousness which we did, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Do not fear, little flock, because your Father is well pleased to give to you the kingdom.

for [the children] not yet being born, nor having done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might abide, not of works but of Him who calls,

So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God who shows mercy.

having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God,

Therefore we also pray always concerning you that our God may count you worthy of [this] calling, and may fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,

who having saved us, and having called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time [itself],