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Ezra 10:3

in Ezra 10

So now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Now 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.

KJV

Now 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.

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This verse in Ezra 10

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
Let it be done according to the law - i. e., let a formal “bill of divorcement” be given to each foreign wife, whereby she will be restored to the condition of an unmarried woman, and be free to marry another husband (see Deu 24:1-2). The facility of divorce among the Jews is well-known. According to many of the rabbis, a bill of divorcement might he given by the husband for the most trivial cause.

This site's exposition

casting himself down before the house of God

on Ezra 10:1-3

Ezra's prayer draws the congregation to him before he asks anything of them: men, women and children gather while he still lies before the house of God, and their weeping becomes an assembly's grief before it becomes a plan. Shechaniah speaks first among the people, not as one of the guilty, since his own name never appears in the list that follows, and his proposal turns confession into a covenant to put away the foreign wives, according to the law. His closing clause carries the chapter's hinge, yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

What has been unjustly got cannot be justly kept, but must be restored; but, as to the case of being unequally yoked with unbelievers, Shechaniah's counsel, which he was then so clear in, will not hold now; such marriages, it is certain, are sinful, and ought not to be made, but they are not null.

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְעַתָּ֣הand therefore

    veatahH6258 →433 times

  • נִֽכְרָת־let us make

    nikhrot-H3772 →

  • בְּרִ֣יתa covenant

    beritH1285 →

  • לֵ֠אלֹהֵינוּto God our

    leloheinuH430 →2601 times

  • לְהוֹצִ֨יאto send out

    lehotzi'H3318 →1067 times

  • כָל־all

    khol-H3605 →5413 times

  • נָשִׁ֜יםwives

    nashimH802 →781 times

  • וְהַנּוֹלָ֤דand those born

    vehanoladH3205 →

  • מֵהֶם֙from them

    mehem

  • בַּעֲצַ֣תby [the] counsel of

    baatzatH6098 →89 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֔י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136 →

  • וְהַחֲרֵדִ֖יםand the [people] trembling

    vehacharedimH2730 →

  • בְּמִצְוַ֣תat [the] commandment of

    bemitzvatH4687 →181 times

  • אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּGod our

    ʾeloheinuH430 →2601 times

  • וְכַתּוֹרָ֖הand according to the law

    vekhatorahH8451 →219 times

  • יֵעָשֶֽׂה׃let it be done

    yeasehH6213 →2628 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 66:2Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.16 worksDeuteronomy 7:2–3and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.8 worksEzra 9:4Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat there in horror until the evening offering.7 worksNehemiah 9:38In view of all this, we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing and sealing it with the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.”5 worksPhilippians 2:12Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.5 works1 Corinthians 7:12–13To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If a brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.4 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Joshua 23:12–13For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them,4 worksPsalms 119:120My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.4 worksEzra 10:11Now, therefore, make a confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do His will. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from your foreign wives.”4 worksDeuteronomy 29:12so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,3 works2 Chronicles 34:21“Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words in the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD by doing all that is written in this book.”3 worksPsalms 119:59I considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.3 works2 Chronicles 29:10Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us.3 works2 Kings 11:17Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people that they would be the LORD’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people.3 worksNehemiah 8:14And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month.2 worksNehemiah 10:29–39hereby join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the Law of God given through His servant Moses and to carefully obey all the commandments, ordinances, and statutes of the LORD our Lord.2 works2 Chronicles 34:31–32So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book.2 worksNehemiah 13:1–3At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 119:120

    My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 66:2

      Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Daniel 10:8–11

      So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.

    • Habakkuk 3:16

      I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the…

    • Hebrews 12:21

      The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

    • Hebrews 12:28–29

      Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

  • Through

    Ezra 9:4

    Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat there in horror until the evening offering.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 29:39

      Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight.

    • 2 Chronicles 34:27

      because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its people, and because you have humbled yourself before Me and you have…

    • Psalms 119:136

      My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.

About Ezra

Ezra Kneels in Prayer, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezra Kneels in Prayer, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezra: the study guide →Read Ezra 10 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezra 10 →