Ezra 10:10-20

10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel.

11 "Now therefore, ¹make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and ²do His will; and ³separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives."

12 Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, "That's right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do.

13 "But there are many people; it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.

14 "Let our leaders represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the ⁴fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us."

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

16 But the exiles * did so. And Ezra the priest selected men who were heads of fathers' households for each of their father's households, all of them by name. So they convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter.

17 They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

List of Offenders

18 Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of ⁵Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah.

19 They pledged * to put away their wives, and being guilty, ⁶they offered a ram of the flock for their offense.

20 Of the sons of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah;

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Ezra 10:10-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 10

Upon Ezra's prayer and confession, it was proposed by Shechaniah, that those who had married strange wives should put them away with their children, which they swore to do, Ezr 10:1-5, and proclamation was made throughout the land for all to meet at Jerusalem in three days' time, and accordingly they did, Ezr 10:6-9 when, at the exhortation of Ezra, all agreed to it, and persons were appointed to see it done, and the work was finished in the space of three months, Ezr 10:10-17 and a list of the names of those is given who had married such wives, and now put them away; of the priests, Ezr 10:18-22, of the Levites, Ezr 10:23,24, of the other Israelites, Ezr 10:24-44.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 6

1. Leviticus 26:40; Proverbs 28:13
2. Romans 12:2
3. Ezra 10:3
4. 2 Kings 23:26; 2 Chronicles 28:11-13; 2 Chronicles 29:10; 2 Chronicles 30:8
5. Ezra 5:2; Haggai 1:1, 12; Haggai 2:4; Zechariah 3:1; Zechariah 6:11
6. Leviticus 5:15; Leviticus 6:6

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "upon us"
[b]. Lit "stand for"
[c]. Lit "stood against"
[d]. Heb reads "there were set apart Ezra the priest, men..."
[e]. Lit "sat"
[f]. Lit "gave their hand"