Ezra 9:14
in Ezra 9shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not become so angry with us as to wipe us out, leaving no remnant or survivor?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
shall we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?
KJV
Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
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This verse in Ezra 9
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
punished us less than our iniquities deserve
on Ezra 9:13-15
The confession says that God has "punished us less than our iniquities deserve" and left a remnant. Ezra asks whether they will again break His commandments and intermarry with these peoples, since God's anger would leave no remnant or survivor. The prayer ends without petition: "You are righteous!"
This site's exposition
shall we again break Your commandments
The word again reaches back to verse 7, where the guilt runs from the days of the fathers to this day. John Wesley reads the exiles there as repeating the fathers' sins while still feeling their effects. Shecaniah answers the question at 10:2 with hope for Israel.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Those that will be wrought upon neither by the one nor by the other are fit to be rejected, as reprobate silver, for the founder melteth in vain. (4.) He speaks as one much assured of the righteousness of God, and resolved to acquiesce in that and to leave the matter with him whose judgment is according to truth (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations?.... 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, 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, Acts xi.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God--The burden of his prayer, which was dictated by a deep sense of the emergency, was that he was overwhelmed at the flagrant enormity of this sin, and the bold impiety of continuing in it after having, as a people, so recently experienced the heavy marks of the divine displeasure.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And after all that has come upon us after all the calamity that has befallen us because of our evil deeds.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
for we cannot lit. for there is nothing; i.e., we do not have the power of good deeds to stand and exist before You, because of this transgression.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲנָשׁוּב֙ | hanashuv | ¿ will we return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| לְהָפֵ֣ר | lehafer | to break | H6565 → | |
| מִצְוֹתֶ֔יךָ | mitzvoteikha | commandments your | H4687 → | 181 times |
| וּ֨לְהִתְחַתֵּ֔ן | ulehitchaten | and to intermarry | H2859 → | |
| בְּעַמֵּ֥י | beamei | with [the] peoples of | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הַתֹּעֵב֖וֹת | hatoevot | the abominations | H8441 → | 117 times |
| הָאֵ֑לֶּה | haeleh | <the> these | H428 → | 746 times |
| הֲל֤וֹא | halo' | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תֶֽאֱנַף־ | teenaf- | will you be angry | H599 → | |
| בָּ֙נוּ֙ | banu | with us | ||
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| כַּלֵּ֔ה | kaleh | make an end | H3615 → | 208 times |
| לְאֵ֥ין | leein | to there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| שְׁאֵרִ֖ית | sheerit | [will be] a remnant | H7611 → | |
| וּפְלֵיטָֽה׃ פ | ufeleitah | and an escaped remnant | H6413 → | 28 times |
הֲנָשׁוּב֙¿ will we return
hanashuvH7725 →1056 times
לְהָפֵ֣רto break
lehaferH6565 →
מִצְוֹתֶ֔יךָcommandments your
mitzvoteikhaH4687 →181 times
וּ֨לְהִתְחַתֵּ֔ןand to intermarry
ulehitchatenH2859 →
בְּעַמֵּ֥יwith [the] peoples of
beameiH5971 →1873 times
הַתֹּעֵב֖וֹתthe abominations
hatoevotH8441 →117 times
הָאֵ֑לֶּה<the> these
haelehH428 →746 times
הֲל֤וֹא¿ not
halo'H3808 →5168 times
תֶֽאֱנַף־will you be angry
teenaf-H599 →
בָּ֙נוּ֙with us
banu
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
כַּלֵּ֔הmake an end
kalehH3615 →208 times
לְאֵ֥יןto there not
leeinH369 →789 times
שְׁאֵרִ֖ית[will be] a remnant
sheeritH7611 →
וּפְלֵיטָֽה׃ פand an escaped remnant
ufeleitahH6413 →28 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Ezra 9:2Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and…
it leads to
- Nehemiah 13:23–24
In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
- Exodus 34:16
And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.
- Ezra 10:2
Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, an Elamite, said to Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the people of the land, yet in spite of this, there is…
- Ezra 10:18–44
Among the descendants of the priests who had married foreign women were found these descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers:
- Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of…
- Nehemiah 13:23–24
Through
Deuteronomy 9:14Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:20
The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot…
- Exodus 32:10–13
Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Deuteronomy 29:20
Through
Judges 2:2and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 7:2–4
and 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.
- Deuteronomy 7:2–4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Ezra
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Berean Standard Bible, Ezra 10; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.