# Ezra 9.5-15 **Book:** [Ezra](/codex/ezra/) · NASB95 ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > 3. And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded. 4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the trespass of them of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening oblation. > > **5. And at the evening oblation I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe tore; and I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto Jehovah my God; 6. and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness is grown up unto the heavens. 7. Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8. And now for a little moment grace has been showed from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. 9. For we are bondmen; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended lovingkindness unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the ruins there, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken your commandments, 11. which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which you go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness: 12. now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your sons for ever. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that you our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant, 14. shall we again break your commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? would not you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15. O Jehovah, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for none can stand before you because of this.** (Ezra 9:3-15, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > 3. When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled the hair out of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded. 4. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel were assembled to me, because of their trespass of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening offering. > > **5. At the evening offering I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Yahweh my God; 6. and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens. 7. Since the days of our fathers we have been exceeding guilty to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8. Now for a little moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and revived us a little in our bondage. 9. For we are bondservants; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10. “Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11. which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land, to which you go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness. 12. Now therefore don’t give your daughters to their sons. Don’t take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ 13. “After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant, 14. shall we again break your commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? Wouldn’t you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15. Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for no one can stand before you because of this.”** (Ezra 9:3-15, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > 3. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. 4. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. > > **5. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, heaviness: or, affliction 6. And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. trespass: or, guiltiness 7. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. space: Heb. moment a nail: or, a pin: that is, a constant and sure abode 9. For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. to repair: Heb. to set up 10. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, 11. Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. by: Heb. by the hand of from: Heb. from mouth to mouth 12. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; hast punished: Heb. hast withheld beneath our iniquities 14. Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? 15. O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.** (Ezra 9:3-15, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > 3. And at my hearing this word, I have rent my garment and my upper robe, and pluck out of the hair of my head, and of my beard, and sit astonished, 4. and unto me are gathered every one trembling at the words of the God of Israel, because of the trespass of the removal, and I am sitting astonished till the present of the evening. > > **5. And at the present of the evening I have risen from mine affliction, and at my rending my garment and my upper robe, then I bow down on my knees, and spread out my hands unto Jehovah my God, 6. and say, 'O my God, I have been ashamed, and have blushed to lift up, O my God, my face unto Thee, for our iniquities have increased over the head, and our guilt hath become great unto the heavens. 7. 'From the days of our fathers we [are] in great guilt unto this day, and in our iniquities we have been given, we, our kings, our priests, into the hand of the kings of the lands, with sword, with captivity, and with spoiling, and with shame of face, as [at] this day. 8. 'And now, as a small moment hath grace been from Jehovah our God, to leave to us an escape, and to give to us a nail in His holy place, by our God's enlightening our eyes, and by giving us a little quickening in our servitude; 9. for servants we [are], and in our servitude our God hath not forsaken us, and stretcheth out unto us kindness before the kings of Persia, to give to us a quickening to lift up the house of our God, and to cause its wastes to cease, and to give to us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10. 'And now, what do we say, O our God, after this? for we have forsaken Thy commands, 11. that Thou hast commanded by the hands of thy servants the prophets, saying, The land into which ye are going to possess it, [is] a land of impurity, by the impurity of the people of the lands, by their abominations with which they have filled it, from mouth unto mouth, by their uncleanness; 12. and now, your daughters ye do not give to their sons, and their daughters ye do not take to your sons, and ye do not seek their peace, and their good, unto the age, so that ye are strong, and have eaten the good of the land, and given possession to your sons unto the age. 13. 'And after all that hath come upon us for our evil works, and for our great guilt (for Thou, O our God, hast kept back of the rod from our iniquities, and hast given to us an escape like this), 14. do we turn back to break Thy commands, and to join ourselves in marriage with the people of these abominations? art not Thou angry against us, even to consumption, till there is no remnant and escaped part? 15. 'O Jehovah, God of Israel, righteous [art] Thou, for we have been left an escape, as [it is] this day; lo, we [are] before Thee in our guilt, for there is none to stand before Thee concerning this.'** (Ezra 9:3-15, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** _TBD_ - **Audience:** _TBD_ - **Location:** _TBD_ - **Time period:** _TBD_ ## Theological reading _Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added._ ## Key words _Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word._ - [H7965 - shalom](/codex/h7965-shalom/), *shalom*, Strong's H7965 - [H5771 - avon](/codex/h5771-avon/), *avon*, Strong's H5771 - [H2617 - hesed](/codex/h2617-hesed/), *hesed*, Strong's H2617 - [H2388 - chazaq](/codex/h2388-chazaq/), *chazaq*, Strong's H2388 - [H5769 - olam](/codex/h5769-olam/), *olam*, Strong's H5769 - [H2896 - tov](/codex/h2896-tov/), *tov*, Strong's H2896 ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Cyrus Saved the Jews Not Jesus Objection Defeater](/codex/cyrus-saved-the-jews-not-jesus-objection-defeater/), via [Ezra 9.8-9](/codex/ezra-9-8-9/), [Ezra 9.9](/codex/ezra-9-9/) **People:** - [Cyrus the Great](/codex/cyrus-the-great/), via [Ezra 9.9](/codex/ezra-9-9/) ## Notes _Your annotations._ ## Why these four translations ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance. The four: - **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff. See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.