Ezra 9

When all this had been done, the leaders came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the peoples around them. They are following the same detestable practices as the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

1Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

Note"When all this had been done" points back to chapters 7–8: Ezra's journey from Babylon to Jerusalem with a party of returning exiles and a large gift of silver and gold for the temple. The "leaders" are heads of families and officials of the returned community. The Levites were members of the tribe of Levi who worked at the temple in supporting roles (music, gatekeeping, teaching, handling the sacrifices) under the priests, who were a smaller group within that same tribe. The eight peoples named are lifted from much older lists of the nations who lived in Canaan before Israel (as in Deuteronomy 7:1). By Ezra's time, centuries later, several of them no longer existed as identifiable groups, so the list works as a stock formula for "outsiders with outside religion" rather than a description of who was actually living nearby.

2They have taken some of those women as wives for themselves and for their sons. So the holy family line has been mixed with the peoples of those lands. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithful act."

2For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.

Note"Holy family line" translates a Hebrew phrase literally meaning "holy seed", seed in the sense of offspring or descendants. "Holy" here does not mean morally good; it means set apart for God's exclusive use, the way a vessel or a day could be holy. The phrase echoes Isaiah 6:13. The word behind "unfaithful act" is a technical term for misusing or violating something sacred, closer to "sacrilege" than to general wrongdoing; it is used repeatedly in this chapter and the next.

3When I heard this, I tore my inner robe and my outer cloak, pulled hair from my head and my beard, and sat down stunned.

3And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.

NoteTearing one's clothing and pulling out hair from head and beard were recognized public gestures of grief, horror or outrage, the visible signal that something terrible had happened, not a private loss of control. Ezra tears both garments: the lighter tunic worn next to the body and the heavy cloak worn over it. Tearing both, rather than one, marked extreme distress.

4Then everyone who took the words of the God of Israel seriously gathered around me, because of the unfaithful act of those who had come back from exile. I sat there stunned until the evening offering.

4Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.

Note"Took the words of the God of Israel seriously" renders a set phrase, literally those who "trembled at" his words, describing people who treated God's commands with fear and gravity (compare Isaiah 66:2). The "evening offering" was the second of the two sacrifices burned at the temple every day, offered in the mid-afternoon; because it happened at a fixed hour it doubled as a public way of telling time, like a bell.

5At the evening offering I got up from my fasting. With my robe and cloak still torn, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God.

5And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,

NoteKneeling with the hands spread open and raised was the posture for urgent or desperate prayer. Ordinary prayer was usually offered standing, so the change of posture was itself part of the appeal.

6I said, "My God, I am ashamed. I am too embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God. Our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown all the way up to the heavens.

6And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

7From the days of our ancestors until today our guilt has been great. Because of our sins we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to foreign kings, killed by the sword, taken captive, robbed, and publicly shamed, as we still are today.

7Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

NoteThe handing over "to foreign kings" refers to the conquests that ended both Israelite kingdoms: Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom in 722 BC, and Babylon captured Jerusalem and deported its population in stages, ending with the destruction of the city and temple in 586 BC. Ezra is writing roughly a century and a half after that last event, and treats his own community as still living in the consequences.

8But now, for a short time, the LORD our God has been kind to us. He has left us a group of survivors and given us a secure hold in his holy place. He has brightened our eyes and given us a little new life while we are still under another nation's control.

8And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

Note"A secure hold in his holy place" translates an image of a peg or nail driven firmly into a wall or into the ground (something fixed and load-bearing, hence a foothold that will not slip. The "holy place" is the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. "Brightened our eyes" is a Hebrew idiom: eyes go dull with exhaustion, hunger or despair and brighten again when strength returns. A "group of survivors" is the standard prophetic term usually translated "remnant") the fraction of a people left alive after a national catastrophe.

9We are slaves, yet our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a protecting wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

9For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

Note"We are slaves" does not mean personal ownership; the returned community were subjects of the Persian empire, governed by it and without a king of their own. The "kings of Persia" are Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, who over successive reigns authorised the return and the rebuilding of the temple. The word translated "protecting wall" normally means the low stone wall built round a vineyard or field rather than a city wall (Jerusalem's city walls were still in ruins at this point and were not rebuilt until Nehemiah's time), so the phrase reads as an image of shelter rather than a claim about masonry.

10And now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have abandoned your commands,

10And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

11the commands you gave through your servants the prophets. You said, 'The land you are going in to take is a defiled land. The peoples in it have polluted it with their filthy and detestable practices, filling it from one end to the other with their uncleanness.

11Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.

NoteNo single passage in the Hebrew scriptures reads exactly like this quotation; it combines the sense of several commands, chiefly Deuteronomy 7:1–4, Leviticus 18:24–30 and Deuteronomy 23:6. "Defiled," "polluted" and "uncleanness" are ritual terms, not statements about hygiene or morals: they describe a condition that makes a person, object or place unfit to come near what is holy.

12So do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, and do not take their daughters for your sons. Never work for their peace or their prosperity. Then you will be strong, you will eat the good things of the land, and you will leave it to your children as a lasting inheritance.'

12Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

Note"Never work for their peace or their prosperity" picks up the wording of Deuteronomy 23:6, which is treaty language, do not enter into alliances or agreements of friendship with them. It is about political and family entanglement, not about wishing individuals harm.

13All this has come on us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt. Even so, you, our God, have punished us less than our sins deserve, and you have let this many of us survive.

13And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;

14Should we then break your commands again and marry into these peoples who do such detestable things? Would you not be so angry with us that you wiped us out, leaving no one left and no one escaping?

14Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?

15LORD, God of Israel, you are right in what you do. We are left here today as survivors. Here we are in front of you, guilty, and because of that guilt no one can stand in your presence."

15O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.