For we are servants; and in our servitude God forsook us not, and he extended to us mercy before the kings of Persia, to give to us the preservation of life to set up the house of our God, and to cause its desolations to stand, and to give to us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

“Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

because I was ashamed to ask the king for a contingent of soldiers and cavalry to protect us from enemies we might encounter on the way. After all, we had told the king, "The hand of our God seeks the good of all who seek him, but his power and anger are against everyone who forsakes him."