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Ezra Chapter
Nine
New King James Version
(NKJV)
Ezra 9:1 When these
things were done
the leaders came to me
saying
“The people of Israel and the
priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the
lands
with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites
the Hittites
the
Perizzites
the Jebusites
the Ammonites
the Moabites
the Egyptians
and the
Amorites.
YLT And at the completion of these things
drawn
nigh unto me have the heads
saying
`The people of Israel
and the priests
and the Levites
have not been separated from the peoples of the lands
as to
their abominations
even the Canaanite
the Hittite
the Perizzite
the
Jebusite
the Ammonite
the Moabite
the Egyptian
and the Amorite
Now when these things were
done
When the captives with Ezra had refreshed themselves
and weighed the money and
vessels they brought
and put them into the hands of proper persons
and
offered sacrifices
and delivered the king's commissions to his lieutenants and
governors
and shown his own:
the princes came to me;
some of the nobles of Israel
the most religious of them
who were concerned at
the corruptions that were among them
though not a sufficient number to reform
them:
saying the people of
Israel
and the priests
and the Levites
have not separated themselves from
the people of the land:
but joined with them
though not in idolatrous practices
yet by marrying with
them
which might lead them into them:
doing according to their
abominations;
not serving idols as they did
but imitating them in their marriages: even
of the Canaanites
the
Perizzites
the Jebusites
the Ammonites
the Moabites
the Egyptians
and the
Amorites;
affinity with many of these was forbidden by an express law
( Deuteronomy 7:1 Deuteronomy 7:3 ) all but the Moabites
Ammonites
and Egyptians
and from these for the same reason they were to
abstain; namely
lest they should be drawn into idolatry; that the priests and
Levites should do this
who ought to have known the law
and instructed the
people better
was very sad and shocking.
Ezra 9:2 For they have
taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons
so
that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed
the
hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass.”
YLT for they have taken of their daughters to
them
and to their sons
and the holy seed have mingled themselves among the
peoples of the lands
and the hand of the heads and of the seconds have been
first in this trespass.'
For they have taken of
their daughters for themselves
and for their sorts
Some that were widowers not only took wives to themselves of the above nations
either when they were of Babylon
where many of these nations also were
or
rather since their return; but they took for their sons also; yea
some that
had wives took Heathenish ones to them
see ( Malachi 2:13-15 )
so that the holy seed;
such as the Lord had separated from other nations
chosen them to be an holy
people above all others
and devoted them to his service and worship:
have mingled themselves
with the people of those lands;
before mentioned
by marrying with them:
yea
the hand of the
princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass;
they were the first that went into it
were ringleaders of it
who should by
their authority and example have restrained others; or they were
in this first trespass
F9;
which was the first gross and capital one the people fell into after their
return from the captivity.
FOOTNOTES:
F9 (hnavr hzh lemb) "in
praevaricatione ista prima"
Pagninus
Montanus.
Ezra 9:3 So when I heard
this thing
I tore my garment and my robe
and plucked out some of the hair of
my head and beard
and sat down astonished.
YLT 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
And when I heard this
thing
I rent my garment and my mantle
&c.] Both inward and outward garments
that which was close to his body
and that which was thrown loose over it; and this he did in token of sorrow and
mourning
as if something very dreadful and distressing
see ( Job
1:20 )
and plucked off the hair
of my head and of my beard;
did not shave them
and so transgressed not the law in ( Leviticus 19:27 ) but plucked off the hair of
them
to show his extreme sorrow for what was told him: which has frequently
been done by mourners on sorrowful occasions in various nations
see ( Isaiah
15:2 ) . So in the apocryphal "addition" to Esther
``And laid away her glorious apparel
and put on the garments of
anguish and mourning: and instead of precious ointments
she covered her head
with ashes and dung
and she humbled her body greatly
and all the places of
her joy she filled with her torn hair.'' (Esther 14:2)
she is said to fill every place of joy with the tearing of her
hair; and Lavinia in Virgil F11;
several passages from Homer F12
and other writers
both Greek and Latin
are mentioned by Bochart F13
as instances of it:
and sat down astonished;
quite amazed at the ingratitude of the people
that after such favours shown
them
in returning them from captivity unto their own land
and settling them
there
they should give into practices so contrary to the will of God.
FOOTNOTES:
F11 Aeneid. 12. prope finem. Vid. Ciceron. Tusc. Quaest. l. 3.
F12 Vid. Iliad. 10. ver. 15. & Iliad. 22. ver. 77
78
406. & Iliad.
24. ver. 711.
F13 Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 45. col. 481.
Ezra 9:4 Then everyone
who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me
because of the
transgression of those who had been carried away captive
and I sat astonished
until the evening sacrifice.
YLT 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.
There were assembled unto
me everyone that trembled at the words of the God of Israel
That had a reverence for the word of God
and the things contained in it;
feared to break the laws of God
and trembled at his judgments
which they
might apprehend would come upon transgressors
see ( Isaiah
46:2 )
because of the
transgression of those that had been carried away;
into Babylon
and were now returned
and which was an aggravation of their
transgression:
and I sat astonished until
the evening sacrifice:
or until the ninth hour
as the Syriac version
which was about our three
o'clock in the afternoon
at which time the evening sacrifice was offered;
perhaps it was in the morning when Ezra first received his information from the
princes.
Ezra 9:5 At the evening
sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe
I
fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God.
YLT 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
And at the evening
sacrifice I rose up from my heaviness
The signs and tokens of it
particularly sitting on the ground; or "from
my fasting" F14
having eaten nothing that day
it being early in the morning when he was told
the above case:
and having rent my garment
and my mantle;
which he had done before
and still kept them on him in the same case:
fell upon my knees
and
spread out my hands unto the Lord my God;
in the posture and with the gesture of an humble supplicant.
FOOTNOTES:
F14 (ytynetm) "jejunio
meo"
Michaelis; so Jarchi.
Ezra 9:6 And I said: “O
my God
I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You
my God; for our
iniquities have risen higher than our heads
and our guilt has grown up
to the heavens.
YLT 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.
And said
O my God
Here begins the prayer of Ezra
and that with faith in God as covenant God
even when he was about to make confession of sin
and repentance for it; that
prayer is right which is put up in faith
and that repentance genuine which is
accompanied with faith
and flows from it:
I am ashamed
and blush to
lift up my face to thee
my God;
a true sight and sense of sin causes shame and blushing
and never more than
when a man is sensible of his covenant interest in God
and of his grace and
favour to him
particularly in the forgiveness of his sin
see ( Ezekiel 16:61 Ezekiel 16:63 )
for our iniquities are
increased over our head;
arisen and swelled like mighty waters
which seemed to threaten an overwhelming
of them:
and our trespass is grown
up unto the heavens;
being done in an open
public
and insolent manner
and in such numbers
that
they were
as it were
piled up in heaps
reaching to heaven
and calling down
vengeance from thence. Ezra includes himself as being one of the same nation;
and these sins being so common were become national ones
which involved all
the individuals
and exposed them to the divine resentment.
Ezra 9:7 Since the days
of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty
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
humiliation
as it is this day.
YLT `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.
Since the days of our
fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day
The sins they were guilty of had been long continued in
which was an
aggravation of them:
and for our iniquities
have we
our kings
and our priests
been delivered into the hand of the kings
of the lands;
the ten tribes and their king into the hand of the king of Assyria
the kings
of Judah
Jehoiakim
Jeconiah
and Zedekiah
into the hands of the king of
Babylon
with the priests and people:
to the sword
to
captivity
and to a spoil;
some were slain with the sword
others carried captive
and the houses of them
all plundered and spoiled:
and to confusion of face
as it is this day;
being filled with shame when they reflected on their sins
the cause of those
evils; and besides
the captivity of the ten tribes continued
and of many
others
which exposed them to shame among their neighbours.
Ezra 9:8 And now for a
little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God
to
leave us a remnant to escape
and to give us a peg in His holy place
that our
God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.
YLT `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;
And now
for a little
space
grace hath been showed from the Lord our God
It was but a small time since the Lord first began to show favour to them
so
that they soon after began to revolt from him; which argued the strange propensity
of their minds to that which is evil
and from which they could not be
restrained by the recent goodness of God unto them:
to leave us a remnant to
escape;
out of captivity
from whence a small number were graciously and safely
returned to their own land:
and to give us a nail in
his holy place;
a fixed settlement in the land of Judea
the holy land the Lord had chosen
and
in the temple
the holy place sacred to his worship; or a prince of their own
Zerubbabel
to be the governor of them
under whom they might enjoy settled
happiness and prosperity
see ( Isaiah 22:23 ) ( Zechariah 10:4 )
that our God may lighten our
eyes;
refresh our spirits
cheer our souls
and give us light and gladness
see ( 1 Samuel 14:27 )
and give us a little
reviving in our bondage;
for they were still in some degree of bondage
being in subjection
and
tributaries to the kings of Persia; but yet being returned to their own land
it was as life from the dead unto them
at least it was giving them a little
life
liberty
and joy.
Ezra 9:9 For we were
slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to
us in the sight of the kings of Persia
to revive us
to repair the house of
our God
to rebuild its ruins
and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
YLT 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.
For we were bondmen
To the Chaldeans when in Babylon
which was more than the Jews in the times of
Christ would own
( John 8:33 )
yet our God hath not
forsaken us in our bondage;
had not left them to continue in it always:
but hath extended mercy
unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia;
moved them to have pity and compassion on them
and release them:
to give us a reviving;
while in captivity
they were as in their graves
and like the dry bones in
Ezekiel's vision
but revived upon the proclamation of Cyrus
and the
encouragement he gave them to return to their own land:
to set up the house of our
God
and repair the desolations thereof;
both to rebuild the temple
and to restore the worship of it:
and to give us a wall in
Judah and in Jerusalem;
not to set up the walls of Jerusalem
and of other cities
which as yet was not
done; but rather the walls of their houses
which they had rebuilt; they had
walled houses given them in Judah and Jerusalem; though the word signifies an
hedge or fence
such as is about gardens and vineyards
and may denote the
protection of the kings of Persia
which was a fence to them against the
Samaritans and others; and especially the hedge of divine Providence about
them
which guarded and defended them
see ( Job
1:10 ) .
Ezra 9:10 And now
O our
God
what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments
YLT `And now
what do we say
O our God
after
this? for we have forsaken Thy commands
And now
O our God
what
shall we say after this?
&c.] What apology or excuse can be made for such ingratitude? what can be
said in favour of such a people? what kindness can be expected to be shown to a
people who had behaved in so base a manner?
for we have forsaken thy
commandments:
particularly those which related to marriages with people of other nations.
Ezra 9:11 which You
commanded by Your servants the prophets
saying
‘The land which you are
entering to possess is an unclean land
with the uncleanness of the peoples of
the lands
with their abominations which have filled it from one end to another
with their impurity.
YLT 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;
Which thou hast commanded
by thy servants the prophets
Moses
and Joshua
and others
see ( Deuteronomy 7:3 ) ( Joshua 23:12 ) ( Judges
2:2 )
saying
the land
unto which
ye go to possess it;
meaning the land of Canaan:
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;
which is to be understood not of their idolatries only
but of their incestuous
marriages
and impure copulations
on which account the Lord spewed out the old
inhabitants of it; for which reason the Jews ought to have been careful not to
have defiled it again by similar practices; see ( Leviticus 18:1-30 ) .
Ezra 9:12 Now therefore
do not give your daughters as wives for their sons
nor take their daughters to
your sons; and never seek their peace or prosperity
that you may be strong and
eat the good of the land
and leave it as an inheritance to your
children forever.’
YLT 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.
Now therefore give not
your daughters unto their sons
nor take their daughters unto your sons
That is
in marriage
see ( Deuteronomy 7:3 )
where the prohibition is
expressed in the same language:
nor seek their peace or
their wealth for ever;
that is
as long as they continue in their idolatries and impurities
see ( Deuteronomy 23:6 )
that ye may be strong
and
eat the good of the land
and leave it for an inheritance to your children for
ever;
that they might be strengthened and established in the land into which they
were brought
and enjoy all the good things it produced
and leave their
children in the possession of it
to hold at least until the Messiah came
see
( Isaiah 1:19 ) .
Ezra 9:13 And after all
that has come upon 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 deliverance as this
YLT `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)
And after all that is come
upon us for our evil deeds
and for our great trespass
As famine
sword
pestilence
and captivity
for their idolatries and other
heinous sins:
seeing that our God hast
punished us less than our iniquities deserve;
for they deserved eternal punishment
whereas it was temporal punishment that
was inflicted
and this moderate
and now stopped; the sense is
according to
Aben Ezra
``thou hast refrained from writing some of our sins in the book of
remembrance
and thou hast let them down below in the earth
according to the
sense of thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea;''
but Jarchi better
``thou hast refrained thyself from exacting of us all our sins
and hast exacted of us beneath our sins (or less than they deserve)
and hast
not taken vengeance on us according to all our sins:''
and hast given us such deliverance as this;
from captivity
which they now enjoyed.
Ezra 9:14 should we again
break Your commandments
and join in marriage with the people committing
these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us
so that there would be no remnant or survivor?
YLT 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?
Should we again break thy
commandments
and join in affinity with the people of these abominations?
&c.] That are guilty of abominable idolatries
and of all uncleanness:
wouldest thou not be angry
with us till thou hadst consumed us;
it might be justly expected:
so that there should be no
remnant nor escaping?
any left or suffered to escape the wrath of but all consumed by it.
Ezra 9:15 O Lord God of Israel
You are righteous
for we are left as a remnant
as it is this
day. Here we are before You
in our guilt
though no one can stand
before You because of this!”
YLT 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.'
O Lord God of Israel
thou
art righteous
And would appear to be so
should Israel be entirely cut off
and utterly
consumed for their iniquities:
for we remain yet escaped
as it is this day;
that they remained yet escaped out of captivity
and escaped the wrath and
vengeance of God
was not owing to any deserts of theirs
but to the grace and
mercy of God
who had not stirred up all his wrath
as their sins deserved:
behold
we are before thee
in our trespasses;
to do with us as seems good in thy sight; we have nothing to plead on our
behalf
but cast ourselves at thy feet
if so be unmerited favour may be shown
us:
for we cannot stand before
thee because of this;
this evil of contracting affinity with the nations; we cannot defend ourselves;
we cannot plead ignorance of the divine commands; we have nothing to say for
ourselves why judgment should not be passed upon us; we leave ourselves in
thine hands
and at thy mercy.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》