Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God
Departed from thence:
and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib;
who was of the family of the high priest. Eliashib was grandson of Joshua the high priest, and succeeded his father Joiakim as such; but though Johanan was never high priest, being a younger son, however he was a person of note, and had a chamber in the temple, whither Ezra went, either to advise with the princes and elders in it, ( Ezra 10:8 ) or to refresh himself with food:
and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water;
or rather "not yet had he ate bread" F15, as some render it; that is, not till he came thither, from the time he first heard of the evil the people had committed; which very probably was early in the morning, and it was now evening:
for he mourned for the transgression of them that had been carried
away;
into captivity, but were now returned from it, and it grieved him the more, that, after such kindness shown them, they should be guilty of such an evil.