Ezra 9:1-11

Mixed Marriages

1 Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, "The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ¹separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ²according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites.

2 "For ³they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that ⁴the holy race has ⁵intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness."

3 When I heard about this matter, I ⁶tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and ⁷sat down appalled.

4 Then ⁸everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until ⁹the evening offering.

Prayer of Confession

5 But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and ¹⁰stretched out my hands to the LORD my God;

6 and I said, "O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our ¹¹guilt has grown even to the heavens.

7 "¹²Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to ¹³open shame, as it is this day.

8 "But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, ¹⁴to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a ¹⁵peg in His holy place, that our God may ¹⁶enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.

9 "¹⁷For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but ¹⁸has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

10 "Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

11 which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and ¹⁹with their impurity.

Read Chapter Compare

Ezra 9:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 9

Ezra being informed, by some of the princes who complained unto him, of the marriages of many of the Israelites with the people of the land, the Canaanites and others, was greatly grieved and distressed, Ezr 9:1-5, upon which he made a confession of their sins to God, with great shame, sorrow, and contrition, and deprecated the evils which they deserved, Ezr 9:6-15.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 19

1. Ezra 6:21; Nehemiah 9:2
2. Leviticus 18:24-30
3. Deuteronomy 7:3; Ezra 10:2, 18
4. Exodus 22:31; Deuteronomy 14:2; 2 Corinthians 6:14
5. Nehemiah 13:3
6. 2 Kings 18:37
7. Nehemiah 1:4
8. Ezra 10:3; Isaiah 66:2
9. Exodus 29:39
10. Exodus 9:29
11. 2 Chronicles 28:9; Ezra 9:13, 15; Revelation 18:5
12. 2 Chronicles 29:6; Psalms 106:6
13. Daniel 9:7
14. Ezra 9:13-15
15. Isaiah 22:23
16. Psalms 13:3
17. Nehemiah 9:36
18. Ezra 7:28
19. Ezra 6:21

Footnotes 5

[a]. Lit "seed"
[b]. Or "fasting"
[c]. Lit "palms"
[d]. Lit "multiplied over the head"
[e]. Lit "shame of faces"