Ezra 9:5-15

5 And at the ¹evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment ²and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees ³and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,

6 saying: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities ⁴have risen higher than our heads, and our ⁵guilt has ⁶mounted up to the heavens.

7 ⁷From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great ⁸guilt. 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, ⁹and to utter shame, as it is today.

8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a ¹⁰remnant and to give us a ¹¹secure hold^[a] within his holy place, that our God may ¹²brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery.

9 ¹³For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, ¹⁴but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection^[b] in Judea and Jerusalem.

10 "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,

11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with ¹⁵their uncleanness.

12 ¹⁶Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land ¹⁷and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.'

13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for ¹⁸our great guilt, seeing that you, our ¹⁹God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a ²⁰remnant as this,

14 shall we break your commandments again and ²¹intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us ²²until you consumed us, so that there should be no ²³remnant, nor any to escape?

15 O LORD, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a ²⁴remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our ²⁵guilt, ²⁶for none can stand before you because of this."

Ezra 9:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 9

Ezra being informed, by some of the princes who complained unto him, of the marriages of many of the Israelites with the people of the land, the Canaanites and others, was greatly grieved and distressed, Ezr 9:1-5, upon which he made a confession of their sins to God, with great shame, sorrow, and contrition, and deprecated the evils which they deserved, Ezr 9:6-15.

Cross References

• 1. [See ver. 4 above]
• 2. [See ver. 3 above]
• 3. 1 Kings 8:22
• 4. [Psalms 38:4]
• 5. ver. 7, 13, 15; Ezra 10:10, 19; 2 Chronicles 24:18
• 6. [2 Chronicles 28:9; Revelation 18:5]
• 7. Psalms 106:6; Daniel 9:5, 6
• 8. [See ver. 6 above]
• 9. Daniel 9:7, 8
• 10. ver. 13, 14, 15
• 11. Isaiah 22:23
• 12. Psalms 13:3
• 13. [Nehemiah 9:36]
• 14. Ezra 7:28
• 15. Ezra 6:21
• 16. See ver. 2
• 17. [Proverbs 13:22]
• 18. ver. 6, 7
• 19. Job 11:6; Psalms 103:10
• 20. ver. 8
• 21. See ver. 2
• 22. [Deuteronomy 9:8]
• 23. [See ver. 13 above]
• 24. [See ver. 13 above]
• 25. Nehemiah 9:33; Psalms 119:137; Jeremiah 12:1; Daniel 9:14
• 26. Psalms 130:3

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew nail, or tent-pin
• [b]. Hebrew a wall