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Ezra 10

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Response to Ezra's Prayer and Confession 1–5

1
Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore. ​
2
And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. ​
3
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. ​
4
Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
5
Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware. ​

Ezra Calls for a General Assembly 6–8

6
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away. ​
7
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;
8
And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away. ​

The People Agree to Systematic Reform 9–15

9
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. ​
10
And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
11
Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.
12
Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.
13
But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing. ​
14
Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.
15
Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. ​

The Investigation Commission Established 16–17

16
And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
17
And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month. ​

The List of Those Who Married Foreign Wives 18–44

18
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. ​
19
And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass. ​
20
And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.
21
And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.
22
And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
23
Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
24
Of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.
25
Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.
26
And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.
27
And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.
28
Of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
29
And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.
30
And of the sons of Pahathmoab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.
31
And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
32
Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.
33
Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
34
Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,
35
Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh,
36
Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
37
Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,
38
And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,
39
And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,
40
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
41
Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,
42
Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.
43
Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.
44
All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezra 10

Verse 1

weeping and casting himself down — ‘Prayed’ is palal and ‘confessed’ yadah, the verb for owning a sin (Lev 5:5, ‘he shall confess that he hath sinned’). Daniel’s prayer has the same pattern: ‘confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel’ (Dan 9:20). The congregation that gathers to Ezra includes men, women and children.

Verse 2

there is hope in Israel — Miqveh, hope, the word of Jer 14:8 and 17:13, ‘O LORD, the hope of Israel’. Shechaniah of the sons of Elam owns the sin first, ‘We have trespassed’ (maal, as in 9:2); a Jehiel of Elam is listed among those who had taken wives (v.26). The LORD’s call in Jer 3:12 is ‘Return… I am merciful’.

Verse 3

make a covenant with our God — Literally to ‘cut’ a covenant (karath berith), as Hezekiah says, ‘it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel’ (2 Chr 29:10). Those ‘that tremble at the commandment of our God’ are the same chared as in 9:4. The ban behind it is Deut 7:3, and the wives and their children are named together.

Verse 5

to swear — Ezra makes the chief priests, Levites and all Israel swear ‘do according to this word’, the covenant proposed in v.3. Nehemiah later takes an oath of the priests in the same way (Neh 5:12) and makes offenders swear by God over the same kind of marriages (Neh 13:25).

Verse 6

did eat no bread, nor drink water — Moses fasted so after the golden calf: ‘I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins’ (Deut 9:18). Ezra’s mourning is for ‘the transgression’ (maal, v.6; 9:4) of the returned exiles, and it goes on after the oath of v.5. He goes from the house of God to the chamber (lishkah) of Johanan the son of Eliashib.

Verse 8

all his substance should be forfeited — ‘Forfeited’ is charam, to devote: what was devoted to the LORD could not be redeemed (Lev 27:28). The penalty rests on the king’s decree of 7:26, which allowed ‘confiscation of goods’. ‘Separated’ is badal (as in 9:1): the loss of one’s place in the congregation of the exiles.

Verse 9

Judah and Benjamin — The two tribes whose chief fathers led the return (Ezra 1:5). The ninth month is Chisleu (Zech 7:1); Ezra had reached Jerusalem in the fifth month (7:9), four months earlier. They sit ‘in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain’.

Verse 13

a time of much rain — The rain (geshem) of v.9 is the reason they cannot go on standing outside. They ask instead that those who had married come ‘at appointed times’ with the elders and judges of each city (v.14), for ‘neither is this a work of one day or two’. ‘Transgressed’ is pasha, to break away from authority.

Verse 15

were employed about this matter — ‘Employed’ is amad, ‘to stand’, and the verse can be read as these four taking charge of the matter, or as some standing against it. ‘Helped’ is azar. A Shabbethai is among those who ‘caused the people to understand the law’ (Neh 8:7), the same name as the Levite here.

Verse 17

made an end — The inquiry began on ‘the first day of the tenth month’ (v.16) and closed ‘by the first day of the first month’, so it took three months. ‘Strange’ (nokri) means foreign, the word for the ‘outlandish women’ who caused Solomon to sin (Neh 13:26).

Verse 18

sons of the priests — The list opens with the priests. Jeshua the son of Jozadak is the ‘Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest’ of Hag 1:1, who stood with Zerubbabel to build the altar (Ezra 3:2). The offenders are ‘of the sons of Jeshua… and his brethren’: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah.

Verse 19

they gave their hands — To give the hand is to pledge, as Jehu and Jehonadab did (2 Kgs 10:15). The ram is the trespass offering: ‘a ram without blemish out of the flocks… for a trespass offering’ (Lev 5:15). The priests named here are the only offenders in the chapter whose offering is recorded.

Verse 44

strange wives — The closing verse repeats nokri, ‘foreign’. It says that some of the marriages had produced children, the case the covenant of v.3 had named in ‘such as are born of them’. The names in vv.18–43 are given by family: priests, Levites, singers, porters, then ‘of Israel’.