28 and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty princes . Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the Lord my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezra 7:28

Commentary on Ezra 7:27-28

(Read Ezra 7:27-28)

Two things Ezra blessed God for: 1. For his commission. If any good appear in our hearts, or in the hearts of others, we must own that God put it there, and bless him; it is he that worketh in us, both to will and to do that which is good. 2. For his encouragement: God has extended mercy to me. Ezra was a man of courage, yet he ascribed this not to his own heart, but to God's hand. If God give us his hand, we are bold and cheerful; if he withdraw it, we are weak as water. Whatever we are enabled to do for God and those around us, God must have all the glory.