Ezra 6:21

21 The Israelites who had returned from exile ate [it], together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land^[a] in order to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

Ezra 6:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 6:21

And the children of Israel, which were come again out of
captivity
The tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with some of the ten tribes mixed with them:

and all such as had separated themselves unto them, from the filthiness
of the Heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat;
such of the Gentiles in the dominions of Babylon, and came with the Jews from thence, who were enlightened into the knowledge and worship of the true God, and not only renounced their idolatry, here called filthiness, but were circumcised, and embraced the religion of the Jews, and so were proselytes of righteousness, as they call them; or otherwise they would not have been allowed to eat of the passover, as they did, ( Exodus 12:48 ) .

Ezra 6:21 In-Context

19 The exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

20 All of the priests and Levites were ceremonially clean, because they had purified themselves. They killed the Passover lamb for themselves, their priestly brothers, and all the exiles.

21 The Israelites who had returned from exile ate [it], together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the Gentiles of the land in order to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

22 They observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the Lord had made them joyful, having changed the Assyrian king's attitude toward them, so that he supported them in the work on the house of the God of Israel.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit land to them