Ezra 10:11

11 Confess to the LORD God of your ancestors what you have done, and do what he wants. Separate yourselves from the people of this land and from your foreign wives."

Ezra 10:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 10:11

Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers,
&c.] Of their sin, and express their detestation of it, and repentance for it:

and do his pleasure;
obey his will, and particularly in this case:

and separate yourselves from the people of the land;
the Canaanites, &c. have no fellowship with them, make no covenants, contracts, and alliances with them for the future;

and from the strange wives;
they had taken; put them away.

Ezra 10:11 In-Context

9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered within three days in Jerusalem. On the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the people sat in the courtyard of God's temple. They were trembling because of this matter and shivering because of the heavy rain.

10 Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women, and now you have added to Israel's guilt.

11 Confess to the LORD God of your ancestors what you have done, and do what he wants. Separate yourselves from the people of this land and from your foreign wives."

12 Then the whole assembly shouted in reply, "Yes! We will do as you say.

13 But the crowd is too large, and it's the rainy season. We can't take care of this outside. Besides, there are so many of us who are involved in this sin that it can't be taken care of in a day or two.