Ezra 9:1-9

A Prayer of Ezra

9:1 Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ¹  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ²  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

9:3 When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and my robe and ripped out some of the hair from my head and beard. Then I sat down, quite devastated. 9:4 Everyone who held the words of the God of Israel in awe ³  gathered around me because of the unfaithful acts of the people of the exile. ⁴  Devastated, I continued to sit there until the evening offering.

9:5 At the time of the evening offering I got up from my self-abasement, ⁵  with my tunic and robe torn, and then dropped to my knees and spread my hands to the Lord my God. 9:6 I prayed, ⁶ 

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens. 9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ⁷  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ⁸  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

9:8 “But now briefly ⁹  we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position ¹⁰  in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes ¹¹  and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude. 9:9 Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us ¹²  to restore the temple of our God and to raise ¹³  up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁴ 

[9:1]  ¹ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.” So also in v. 2.

[9:2]  ² tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

[9:4]  ³ tn Heb “who trembled at the words of the God of Israel.”

[9:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “the exile”; the words “the people” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word used here is a hapax legomenon. It refers to the self-abasement that accompanies religious sorrow and fasting.

[9:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “I said.”

[9:7]  ⁷ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

[9:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

[9:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “according to a little moment.”

[9:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a peg” or “tent peg.” The imagery behind this word is drawn from the experience of nomads who put down pegs as they pitched their tents and made camp after times of travel.

[9:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to cause our eyes to shine.” The expression is a figure of speech for “to revive.” See DCH 1:160 s.v. אור Hi.7.

[9:9]  ¹² tn Heb “has granted us reviving.”

[9:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “to cause to stand.”

[9:9]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.