Ezra 7:9 (DRB)

Passage

For upon the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day 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 children of the priests, and of the children of the Levites, and of the singing men, and of the porters, and of the Nathinites to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

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

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

Ezra 7:10 For Esdras had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do and to teach in Israel the commandments and judgment.

Ezra 7:11 And this is the copy of the letter of the edict, which king Artaxerxes gave to Esdras the priest, the scribe instructed in the words and commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies in Israel.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "upon", "first", "month", "began", "babylon", and "fifth". 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 they came to Jerusalem in the..." into verse 10's "For Esdras had prepared 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.