Ezra 9:5

5 At the evening sacrifice I got up from my misery, and with my clothes torn, I knelt down, stretched out my hands to the LORD my God in prayer,

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 distress], pulled hair from my scalp and my beard, and sat down in shock.

4 Since the former exiles had been unfaithful, everyone who gathered around me there trembled at the words of the God of Israel. I sat in shock until the evening sacrifice.

5 At the evening sacrifice I got up from my misery, and with my clothes torn, I knelt down, stretched out my hands to the LORD my God in prayer,

6 and said, "I am ashamed, my God. I am embarrassed to look at you. Our sins have piled up over our heads, and our guilt is so overwhelming that it reaches heaven.

7 From our ancestors' days until now, we have been deep in guilt. Our kings and our priests have been handed over to foreign kings to be executed. We have been taken captive, robbed, and humiliated, as we still are today because of our sins.