Ezra 10:19

19 They all promised to divorce their wives and sealed it with a handshake. For their guilt they brought a ram from the flock as a Compensation-Offering.

Ezra 10:19 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 19-43. And they gave their hands that they would put away their
wives
They proposed to do it, and actually did it:

and being guilty;
of which they were fully convinced:

they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass;
to make atonement for it, and thereby set an example to others to do the like. Aben Ezra observes, that we do not find that the trespass offering was a mulct to such who married strange wives, and conjectures, that it was the advice of the chief men to do it. From hence, to the end of ( Ezra 10:43 ) , is a list of the men that had married strange wives, and put them away; those in ( Ezra 10:20-22 ) , were priests; in ( Ezra 10:23 Ezra 10:24 ) , Levites, and those of them who were singers or porters; the rest were Israelites: and it is a very common distinction, in rabbinical writers, to distinguish the Jews into priests, Levites, and Israelites; of these we know no more than their names; some of the heads of the families may be observed in ( Ezra 2:1 ) .

Ezra 10:19 In-Context

17 By the first day of the first month they had finished dealing with every man who had married a foreign wife.

18 Among the families of priests, the following were found to have married foreign wives:

19 They all promised to divorce their wives and sealed it with a handshake. For their guilt they brought a ram from the flock as a Compensation-Offering.

20 The family of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

21 The family of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.