Ezra 10:2-3

10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, ¹  addressed Ezra:

“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying ²  foreign women from the local peoples. ³  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. ⁴  10:3 Therefore let us enact ⁵  a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, ⁶  and that of those who respect ⁷  the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law.

Ezra 10:10

10:10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

Ezra 10:14

10:14 Let our leaders take steps ⁸  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

Ezra 10:17-18

10:17 and on the first day of the first month they finished considering all the men who had married foreign wives.

Those Who Had Taken Foreign Wives

10:18 It was determined ⁹  that from the descendants of the priests, the following had taken foreign wives: from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

Ezra 10:44

10:44 All these had taken foreign wives, and some of them also had children by these women. ¹⁰ 

[10:2]  ¹ tc The translation reads with the Qere, many medieval Hebrew MSS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate עֵילָם (’elam, “Elam”) rather than the reading עוֹלָם (’olam, “eternity”) found in the MT.

[10:2]  ² tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.

[10:2]  ³ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[10:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “upon this.”

[10:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut.”

[10:3]  ⁶ tn The MT vocalizes this word as a plural, which could be understood as a reference to God. But the context seems to suggest that a human lord is intended. The apparatus of BHS suggests repointing the word as a singular (“my lord”), but this is unnecessary. The plural (“my lords”) can be understood in an honorific sense even when a human being is in view. Most English versions regard this as a reference to Ezra, so the present translation supplies “your” before “counsel” to make this clear.

[10:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “who tremble at”; NAB, NIV “who fear.”

[10:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “stand.”

[10:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “found.”

[10:44]  ¹⁰ tc The final statement in v. 44 is difficult in terms of both its syntax and its meaning. The present translation attempts to make sense of the MT. But the passage may have undergone corruption in the transmission process. One proposal is that the text should be emended to read “and they sent these wives and children away” (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV).