Ezra 9:15--10:2

9:15 O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt ¹  no one can really stand before you.”

The People Confess Their Sins

10:1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites – men, women, and children alike – gathered around him. The people wept loudly. ²  10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, ³  addressed Ezra:

“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying ⁴  foreign women from the local peoples. ⁵  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. ⁶ 

Ezra 10:16

10:16 So the exiles proceeded accordingly. Ezra the priest separated out ⁷  by name men who were leaders in their family groups. ⁸  They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month,

[9:15]  ¹ tn Heb “this”; the referent (the guilt mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ² tn Heb “with much weeping.”

[10:2]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[10:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “upon this.”

[10:16]  ⁷ tc The translation reads the Hiphil singular וַיַּבְדֵּל לוֹ (vayyavdel lo, “separated for himself”) rather than the Niphal plural וַיִּבָּדְלוּ (vayyibbadÿlu, “were separated”) of the MT.

[10:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers, to the house of their fathers, and all of them by name.”