Ezra 10:11

11 Now, therefore, make confession to ADONAI, the God of your ancestors; and do what will please him by separating yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women."

Ezra 10:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 10:11

Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers,
&c.] Of their sin, and express their detestation of it, and repentance for it:

and do his pleasure;
obey his will, and particularly in this case:

and separate yourselves from the people of the land;
the Canaanites, &c. have no fellowship with them, make no covenants, contracts, and alliances with them for the future;

and from the strange wives;
they had taken; put them away.

Ezra 10:11 In-Context

9 All the men of Y'hudah and Binyamin assembled in Yerushalayim within the three days. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month. All the people sat in the open place in front of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.

10 'Ezra the cohen stood up and addressed them: "You have acted treacherously by marrying foreign women and have thus increased Isra'el's guilt.

11 Now, therefore, make confession to ADONAI, the God of your ancestors; and do what will please him by separating yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women."

12 In response, the whole assembly cried aloud, "Yes, our duty is to do as you have said.

13 But there are many people, and it's the rainy season - we can't stay out here in the open. Also, it isn't the work of a day or two; for there are many of us who have committed this crime.