Ezra 10:5

5 Then Ezra rose up, and charged greatly the princes of (the) priests, and deacons, and all Israel, to do after this word; and they swore thereto. (Then Ezra rose up, and greatly charged the leaders of the priests, and the Levites, and all the Israelites, to do this thing; and they swore that they would do it.)

Ezra 10:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 10:5

Then arose Ezra
From the ground where he lay:

and made the chief priests, and the Levites, and all Israel, to swear
that they should do according to this word:
he took an oath of all that were present to do what was proposed, namely, to put away strange wives and their children:

and they sware;
by means of which they were kept to their word of promise, an oath being a solemn, sacred, thing.

Ezra 10:5 In-Context

3 make we (a) bond of peace with the Lord our God, and cast we away all our alien wives, and them that be born of those wives, by the will of the Lord; and of them that dread the commandment of our God, be it done by the law. (let us make a covenant with the Lord our God to cast away, that is, to send away, all our foreign wives, and those who were born of those wives, according to thy counsel, my lord, and the counsel of those who fear the command of our God/who revere the command of our God; yea, let it be done according to the Law.)
4 Rise thou up, it pertaineth to thee to deem, and we shall be with thee; be thou comforted, and do thus. (Rise thou up, it pertaineth to thee to judge this, and we shall be with thee; be thou strengthened, and do thus.)
5 Then Ezra rose up, and charged greatly the princes of (the) priests, and deacons, and all Israel, to do after this word; and they swore thereto. (Then Ezra rose up, and greatly charged the leaders of the priests, and the Levites, and all the Israelites, to do this thing; and they swore that they would do it.)
6 And Ezra rose up before the house of God, and he went to the bed [place] of Johanan, the son of Eliashib, and he entered [in] thither; he ate not bread, nor drank water; for he bewailed the trespassing of them, that were come from the captivity.
7 And a voice of them was sent into Judah and Jerusalem (And so the word was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem), to all the sons of (the) captivity, that they should be gathered together in Jerusalem;
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.