Ezra 7:9 (DBY)

Passage

For upon the first of the first month the project of going up from Babylon was determined on, and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

Nearby Context

Ezra 7:7 (And there went up [some] of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the doorkeepers, and the Nethinim, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.)

Ezra 7:8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.

Ezra 7:9 For upon the first of the first month the project of going up from Babylon was determined on, and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had directed his heart to seek the law of Jehovah and to do it, and to teach in Israel the statutes and the ordinances.

Ezra 7:11 And this is the copy of the letter that king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commandments of Jehovah, and of his statutes to Israel:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "upon", "first", "month", "project", "going", "babylon", and "determined". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "upon" and "first", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "And he came to Jerusalem in the..." into verse 10's "For Ezra had directed his heart to...", so "upon" and "first" belong inside that flow. In Ezra context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "upon" and "first" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.