22. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.”
23. So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
24. Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them.
25. And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered.