Ezra 9:5

5 When the time came for the evening sacrifice, I got up from where I had been grieving, and still wearing my torn clothes, I knelt in prayer and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God.

Ezra 9:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 9:5

And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my heaviness
The signs and tokens of it, particularly sitting on the ground; or "from my fasting" ^F14, having eaten nothing that day, it being early in the morning when he was told the above case:

and having rent my garment and my mantle;
which he had done before, and still kept them on him in the same case:

fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God;
in the posture and with the gesture of an humble supplicant.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (ytynetm) "jejunio meo", Michaelis; so Jarchi.

Ezra 9:5 In-Context

3 When I heard this, I tore my clothes in despair, tore my hair and my beard, and sat down crushed with grief.

4 I sat there grieving until the time for the evening sacrifice to be offered, and people began to gather around me - all those who were frightened because of what the God of Israel had said about the sins of those who had returned from exile.

5 When the time came for the evening sacrifice, I got up from where I had been grieving, and still wearing my torn clothes, I knelt in prayer and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God.

6 I said, "O God, I am too ashamed to raise my head in your presence. Our sins pile up higher than our heads; they reach as high as the heavens.

7 From the days of our ancestors until now, we, your people, have sinned greatly. Because of our sins we, our kings, and our priests have fallen into the hands of foreign kings, and we have been slaughtered, robbed, and carried away as prisoners. We have been totally disgraced, as we still are today.