Ezra 10

KJV · Chapter 10/10

¹Now 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.

⁶Then 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.

¹⁰And 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.

¹⁸And 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.

²⁵Moreover 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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The people gather, confess their failure, and agree to separate from the foreign wives who were promoting idolatry. A commission is formed to investigate case by case, and the book ends with the list of the men involved in this separation.

Explanation

This is one of the most difficult chapters in the Bible because it deals with a painful decision: the breaking up of marriages and families to restore the people's faithfulness to their covenant with God. It's important to understand the context: the central concern was not xenophobia, but the idolatry these unions were introducing, threatening to repeat the mistakes that had led to the exile. The process was carried out with care — not impulsively, but with individual investigation over the course of months, led by representatives of the people. The text ends abruptly, without a comfortable emotional resolution, making clear that faithfulness to God sometimes demands costly, communal decisions.

Fun facts

The investigation process took about three months (from the tenth month to the first month of the following year), showing that, despite the spiritual urgency, there was careful process rather than impulsive haste.
The final list of names, including priests and Levites, shows that the problem had reached even the religious leadership, reinforcing why the correction needed to begin with them.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Ezra 10:1Ezra's public prayer moves the people: an entire crowd, men, women, and children, joins him, weeping openly in the temple square.
Ezra 10:2A man named Shechaniah speaks up and acknowledges the collective wrong, but points to a way forward: even with all this, he believes there is still hope for the people.
Ezra 10:3Shechaniah proposes a covenant: sending away the foreign wives and the children born to them, following what he calls the counsel of the Lord. It is a harsh proposal, put forward by the people themselves, without the text explaining all the practical details of how this would be carried out for the families involved.
Ezra 10:4Shechaniah urges Ezra to act, promising the people's support — the hard decision needed someone to lead it, and he recognizes that person is Ezra.
Ezra 10:5Ezra has the religious leaders and all the people swear publicly that they will carry out what they had just decided together.
Ezra 10:6Ezra withdraws alone and begins a complete fast, eating no bread and drinking no water, overwhelmed by the gravity of what he had just discovered.
Ezra 10:7An official announcement is spread throughout the region, calling everyone who had returned from exile to gather in Jerusalem.
Ezra 10:8The summons came with a serious penalty: whoever failed to appear within three days would forfeit his goods and be formally cut off from the congregation of those who had returned from exile.
Ezra 10:9The people gather in the public square, trembling both because of the seriousness of the matter and because of the heavy rain of the season. The scene shows a decision made under emotional and physical strain at the same time, not as a cold procedure.
Ezra 10:10Before the assembled crowd, Ezra publicly confirms the accusation, making clear the size of the problem that needed to be solved.
Ezra 10:11He asks the people for a public confession followed by concrete action: separating themselves both from the customs of these peoples and from the marriages already made with them.
Ezra 10:12The people agree with one voice, accepting Ezra's proposal with no apparent resistance, at least at this first moment.
Ezra 10:13Someone points out that the process will take time: many families are involved, and the heavy rain made it impractical to settle everything at once, right there, out in the open.
Ezra 10:14The practical solution proposed is to decentralize the process: each city would handle its own cases, with the support of local leaders and judges.
Ezra 10:15The text records that not everyone agreed with the method chosen — a small group stood against the process that was set, without it being clear exactly what their objection was.
Ezra 10:16The process actually begins to be carried out, with Ezra and the family leaders meeting city by city from the first day of the tenth month onward to investigate each case.
Ezra 10:17The whole investigation takes about three months to complete, working through the cases of marriage to foreign women one by one.
Ezra 10:18The list of those who need to separate from their foreign wives begins precisely with the priests, including close relatives of the high priest Jeshua himself.
Ezra 10:19These priests formally commit themselves, giving their hands on it, and also offer a ram as a sacrifice for their own guilt, following the custom of the time for seeking forgiveness.
Ezra 10:20From the priestly family of Immer, only two names appear on the list this time: Hanani and Zebadiah.
Ezra 10:21Five priests from the family of Harim enter the list, the largest priestly group named in this particular count.
Ezra 10:22Six more priests, from the family of Pashur, complete the roll of those who needed to settle their own situation.
Ezra 10:23Among the Levites there are cases too: six men are named, including Kelaiah, also identified here by the nickname Kelita.
Ezra 10:24Even among the temple singers and porters, roles tied directly to worship, the problem had happened too — no one was exempt.
Ezra 10:25Here the list moves on to the common people, beginning with the family of Parosh, the same one that opened the great census back in chapter 2, now with seven specific names.
Ezra 10:26Six men from the family of Elam are named, one more chapter in the story of this family, already told in round numbers before.
Ezra 10:27Six names from the family of Zattu complete one more group in this closing list of the book.
Ezra 10:28Four men from the family of Bebai, a name that had also appeared among the leaders who came with Ezra in chapter 8.
Ezra 10:29Six names from the extensive family of Bani, one of the largest groups both on this list and in the general census in chapter 2.
Ezra 10:30Eight men from the family of Pahath-moab, one of the largest individual lists in this closing chapter.
Ezra 10:31Five men from the lay family of Harim, a name that also existed among the priests, but here it is a different group, with no direct kinship.
Ezra 10:32Three more names follow on the list, including a man named simply Benjamin, with no clear indication of which family he belonged to.
Ezra 10:33Seven men from the family of Hashum close out one more group within this long final roll of resolved cases.
Ezra 10:34Here another family named Bani appears again, distinct from the one named before, showing how names repeated across different clans of Israel.
Ezra 10:35The list of the family of Bani continues with three more names, following the pattern of bare proper names, with no numbers or comments.
Ezra 10:36Three more names follow, still within the same family group named in the previous verses.
Ezra 10:37The list continues without a break, each name representing an individual case resolved during the three-month investigation.
Ezra 10:38Three more men appear here, probably still connected to the same extended family mentioned a few verses back.
Ezra 10:39The roll of names continues, with no special distinction beyond the plain record of who had committed to settling the situation.
Ezra 10:40Three names that appear only in this specific list, with no other mention anywhere else in the Bible.
Ezra 10:41Three more names all but close out this long roll of individual cases.
Ezra 10:42Three final names before the list moves on to the last family mentioned in the chapter.
Ezra 10:43The list ends with the family of Nebo, a town whose residents had also appeared among the first to return from exile, back in chapter 2.
Ezra 10:44The final list names the men who had married foreign women, and the book ends by noting, without comment, that some of them already had children by these wives. The text simply records the fact and closes there, without describing what became of the separated families.

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