Ezra 9:1

Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
done	וּכְכַלּ֣וֹת u.khe.kha.Lot	H3615	to end · conjunction + preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
princes	הַשָּׂרִים֙ ha.sa.Rim	H8269	a head person (of any rank or class) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
came	נִגְּשׁ֨וּ ni.ge.Shu	H5066	to be or come (causatively · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
saying	לֵאמֹ֔ר le.Mor	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
people	הָעָ֤ם ha.'Am	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
priests

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Leviticus 18:24-30 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
Nehemiah 9:2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
Ezra 10:10-11 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
Exodus 33:16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be…
Deuteronomy 12:30-31 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not aft…
Romans 2:17-25 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
Genesis 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Genesis 15:19-21 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezra 9:1-4

Ezra, like Barnabas when he came to Jerusalem and saw the grace of God to his brethren there, no doubt was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord, Act 11:23. He saw nothing amiss (many corruptions lurk out of the view of the most vigilant rulers); but here is a damp upon his joys: information is brought him that many of the people, yea, and some of the rulers, had married wives out of heathen families, and joined themselves in affinity with strangers. Observe, I. What the sin was that they were guilty of: it was mingling with the people of those lands (Ezr 9:2), associating with them both in trade and in conversation, making themselves familiar w…

Read the whole note in the console

Adam Clarke on Ezra 9:1

The people of Israel - These were they who had returned at first with Zerubbabel, and were settled in the land of Judea and whom Ezra found on his arrival to be little better than the Canaanitish nations from whom God had commanded them ever to keep separate.

John Gill on Ezra 9:1

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, wh…

Read the whole note in the console

Keil & Delitzsch on Ezra 9:1-2

Information given of the intermingling of Israel with the heathen nations of the land by marriage (Ezr 9:1-4), and Ezra's prayer and confession (Ezr 9:5-15). - Ezr 9:1, Ezr 9:2. "When this was done, the princes came to me, and said, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, do not separate themselves from the people of the lands, according to their abominations, (even) of the Canaanites; ... for they have taken (wives) of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of the lands." What now follows is placed in close chronological sequence with what precedes by the formula אלּה וּככלּות, at the time of the completio…

The Church Fathers

After these things were completed, etc. The guilt of this transgression is also clearly described and reproved by prophetic authority in the prophet Malachi; because evidently those who returned from Babylonian captivity, both princes and priests and Levites, as well as the rest of the people, took wives of Israelite descent, who, suffering from the hardship and infirmity of long life, and the fragility of their sex, had been worn out and contracted weakness and deformity of body, and they married foreign women who were either flourishing in age, or more beautiful in body, or daughters of the powerful and rich. This should be understood not about those who were then with Ezra, but about those who had already ascended from captivity with Zerubbabel and Jeshua; for those who had come with Ezra could hardly have so quickly despised the doctrine of such a great leader and prelate, as it is understood, that after scarcely five months in their homeland, they had left their own wives and taken foreign wives; of whom these princes, who brought this crime to Ezra to be punished, were more likely to have been. Nor is it surprising that the people of Israel, along with priests and Levites, are said to have committed this crime, since that transmigration was more from Judah and Benjamin than from the ten tribes which were called Israel. For it should be known that when Israel, that is, the ten tribes, was taken into captivity, the traditional name was also indiscriminately applied to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, calling them Israel. Therefore, the people of Israel in this place is to be understood not in the distinction of Judah and the ten tribes of Benjamin, but in the general distinction of the peoples of the lands, understanding the people of God, who polluted the dignity of their heavenly name with the society of earthly ones. For also the same prophet Malachi, whom the Hebrews assert to be Ezra himself, recalls such transgression in his book of prophecy: "Judah has been unfaithful, an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judah has desecrated the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob anyone who does this—an advocate or master and student—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty" (Malachi II). Where, referring to Judah, he…
— Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Hittites — Palestine and Syria appear to have been originally inhabited by three different tribes. (1.) The Semites, living on the east of the isthmus of Suez. They were nomadic and pastoral tribes. (2.) The…
Israel — The name conferred on Jacob after the great prayer-struggle at Peniel (Gen. 32:28), because “as a prince he had power with God and prevailed.” (See JACOB.) This is the common name given to Jacob’s…
Alliance And Society With The Enemies Of God · Are defiling — Are defiling
Ammonites, The · The Jews reprobated for intermarrying with — The Jews reprobated for intermarrying with
Amorites · Wickedness of — Wickedness of
Amorites, The · The Jews after the captivity condemned for intermarrying with — The Jews after the captivity condemned for intermarrying with
Hittites · Intermarry with the Israelites — Intermarry with the Israelites
Jebusites · Not exterminated, but they intermarry with the Israelites — Not exterminated, but they intermarry with the Israelites
Moabites · 11:1; — 11:1;
Perizzites · Not all — Not all

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Ezra 9:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezra 9:1-4

Adam Clarke on Ezra 9:1

John Gill on Ezra 9:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Ezra 9:1-2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Ezra 9:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezra 9:1-4

Adam Clarke on Ezra 9:1

John Gill on Ezra 9:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Ezra 9:1-2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ezra 9:1–end

Rashi on Ezra 9:1