The big picture
A weeping crowd joins Ezra, the priestly teacher, before God's house in Jerusalem, the city of the returned Jews. Shechaniah, a man from one of their families, proposes sending away foreign wives and their children. He sees this as the way to answer their breach of faith. Leaders swear to act, and everyone must gather to hear the plan. The cases take months to review. The final list names men from many families and notes that some have children by these wives.
In this chapter
- A Proposal Becomes a Sworn Commitment Ezra 10:1-5
Men, women and children gather as Ezra weeps and admits the people's sin.
- The People Gather in Fear and Rain Ezra 10:6-9
Ezra goes to a room in the temple and takes no food or water.
- Many Cases Require a Careful Hearing Ezra 10:10-17
Ezra tells the crowd to admit their sin and leave the foreign wives.
- Sacred Servants Are Named Among the Guilty Ezra 10:18-24
Priests appear first among the men who have married foreign wives.
- The Long List Reaches Ordinary Households Ezra 10:25-44
Many more men from Israel's families follow in the list.
Central truth
The community answers the marriage crisis with oaths and a lengthy review, imposing a separation whose effects reach named men and their families.
Scripture beside the summary
Ezra · King James Version · 44Ezra 10:1-5
A Proposal Becomes a Sworn Commitment
Men, women and children gather as Ezra weeps and admits the people's sin. Shechaniah agrees that they have done wrong by taking foreign wives. Yet he says there is hope. He proposes a binding pledge to send away the wives and their children. They must follow the law and the counsel of those who fear God. He tells Ezra that they will stand with him. Ezra makes the leaders and people swear to act. The plan will divide homes, not only change words of belief.
In everyday life
The family mediator sits with relatives facing the end of a shared home after a grave breach of trust. She asks who will have to leave instead of speaking only about papers to sign. Children will lose their home too. Ezra's assembly plans to send wives and children away to answer a breach before God.
Notice
Ezra 10:3 Children are included in the proposal alongside the wives. The planned action reaches people beyond the men who made the marriages and now swear to change them.
Ezra 10:1-5
King James Version1Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.
2And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
3Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
4Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
5Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.
Ezra 10:6-9
The People Gather in Fear and Rain
Ezra goes to a room in the temple and takes no food or water. He still mourns the returned people's wrong. An order calls them all to Jerusalem within three days. Those who fail to come will lose their goods and their place among the people. The men gather in the temple square. They tremble at the issue before them and at the heavy rain. No one can treat this as a routine meeting. Both the terms of attendance and the matter itself carry great weight.
In everyday life
A storm-shelter steward watches residents gather outside for a required hearing while rain soaks their coats. Attendance carries consequences for their place in the housing scheme. Weather and fear make clear that this is no routine meeting. Ezra's assembly faces covenant guilt and possible loss of property and membership among the returned people.
Notice
Ezra 10:9 The crowd trembles for two reasons, the marriage crisis and the rain. The account records the bodily discomfort alongside the weight of the decision.
Ezra 10:6-9
King James Version6Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.
7And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;
8And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.
9Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.
Ezra 10:10-17
Many Cases Require a Careful Hearing
Ezra tells the crowd to admit their sin and leave the foreign wives. They agree, but ask for time to deal with the many cases. The rain makes a long outdoor meeting too hard. Rulers should set dates, they say, and local elders and judges should come with each man. Ezra and chosen family heads start the review in the tenth month. They finish in the first month of the next year. A shared pledge must now be worked through in many separate homes.
In everyday life
A tenancy reviewer sets scheduled hearings after a crowded outdoor meeting cannot settle many disputed cases. Local witnesses must attend with each household. The calendar creates space to hear details instead of forcing one rushed decision over everyone. Ezra's process concerns separation from wives under the community's understanding of God's law.
Notice
Ezra 10:17 The examination runs until the first day of the first month. The time spent shows that the oath at the assembly is followed by a sustained process.
Ezra 10:10-17
King James Version10And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
11Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.
12Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.
13But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
14Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.
15Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.
16And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
17And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.
Ezra 10:18-24
Sacred Servants Are Named Among the Guilty
Priests appear first among the men who have married foreign wives. Some give a pledge to send their wives away. They bring a ram as an offering for their guilt. Men from other priestly families follow in the list. Levites, a singer and gatekeepers are named too. Their sacred roles do not free them from the same inquiry. The names make the charge specific. It is not left as a vague fault in the crowd, with no one willing to answer for his own conduct.
In everyday life
The choir secretary reads a finding aloud beside the organ. Lead singers are named with the door volunteers who broke the same rule. A grand title does not keep a person's conduct out of the record. Ezra's list concerns priests who offer a ram for guilt and pledge to send their wives away.
Notice
Ezra 10:19 The priests' pledge is joined to a ram offered for guilt. Their response includes both an action toward their households and an act before God.
Ezra 10:18-24
King James Version18And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.
19And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.
20And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.
21And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.
22And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
23Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
24Of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.
Ezra 10:25-44
The Long List Reaches Ordinary Households
Many more men from Israel's families follow in the list. The record gives no words from their wives or accounts of what happens to them later. Its last line notes that some wives have borne children. The effects therefore reach past the named men. Homes will be divided, and children will leave with their mothers under the plan already sworn. The list assigns blame among the men. It does not tell how the women and children will live after being sent away.
In everyday life
A legal-aid worker checks a long list of households affected by a ruling. She adds a note wherever children will also lose their present home. The names identify cases, but they do not tell what life will be like afterward. Ezra's ending records foreign wives and children within a religiously required separation, without describing their futures.
Notice
Ezra 10:44 The final verse names children born from some of these marriages. The record ends with that human consequence rather than only the completed list of men.
Ezra 10:25-44
King James Version25Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.
26And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.
27And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.
28Of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
29And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.
30And of the sons of Pahath-moab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.
31And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
32Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.
33Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
34Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,
35Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh,
36Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
37Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,
38And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,
39And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,
40Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
41Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,
42Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.
43Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.
44All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Ezra 10:1 begins with “Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a…”
Where the chapter turns
Ezra 10:14 forms a natural hinge: “Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the…”
The final note
Ezra 10:44 leaves the reader with “All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words sons, wives, strange, Ezra, taken, Israel help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- unto
- to
- thee
- you
- thou
- you
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
