Ezra 10:12

12 In response, the whole assembly cried aloud, "Yes, our duty is to do as you have said.

Ezra 10:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 10:12

Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice,
&c.] That they might be heard, and to show that they were willing and ready to comply with what was proposed:

as thou host said, so must we do;
being convinced of their sin, they saw it was a duty incumbent on them to put away their strange wives, and that there was a necessity of it, to avert the wrath of God from them.

Ezra 10:12 In-Context

10 'Ezra the cohen stood up and addressed them: "You have acted treacherously by marrying foreign women and have thus increased Isra'el's guilt.

11 Now, therefore, make confession to ADONAI, the God of your ancestors; and do what will please him by separating yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women."

12 In response, the whole assembly cried aloud, "Yes, our duty is to do as you have said.

13 But there are many people, and it's the rainy season - we can't stay out here in the open. Also, it isn't the work of a day or two; for there are many of us who have committed this crime.

14 Let our leaders represent the whole community; and let all those in our cities who have married foreign women appear at prearranged times, accompanied by the elders and judges of each city; until our God's fierce anger over this has been turned away from us."