Ezra 9:5

5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garments and my mantle rent, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,

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 rent my garments and my mantle, and pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat appalled.

4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered round me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.

5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garments and my mantle rent, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,

6 saying: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.

7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt; and for 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, to plundering, and to utter shame, as at this day.