Ezra 10:11

11 Now make confession to the Lord the God of your ancestors, and do his will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives."

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 Then all the people of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. All the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.

10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have trespassed and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel.

11 Now make confession to the Lord the God of your ancestors, and do his will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives."

12 Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, "It is so; we must do as you have said.

13 But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for many of us have transgressed in this matter.