Ezra 10:13

13 But there are many people, and it is the rainy season. We don't have the stamina to stay out in the open. This isn't something that can be done in a day or two, for we have rebelled terribly in this matter.

Ezra 10:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 10:13

But the people are many
Who have been guilty of this evil:

and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without:
in the street, because of the rain:

neither is this a work of one day or two;
to inquire into this affair, who they are that have taken strange wives, and to persuade or oblige them to put them away:

for we are many that have transgressed in this thing;
in marrying strange wives.

Ezra 10:13 In-Context

11 Therefore, make a confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do His will. Separate yourselves from the surrounding peoples and [your] foreign wives."

12 Then all the assembly responded with a loud voice: "Yes, we will do as you say!

13 But there are many people, and it is the rainy season. We don't have the stamina to stay out in the open. This isn't something that can be done in a day or two, for we have rebelled terribly in this matter.

14 Let our leaders represent the entire assembly. Then let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each town, in order to avert the fierce anger of our God concerning this matter."

15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.