Ezra 10

Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before God’s house, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very bitterly.

Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing.

Now therefore let’s make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and those who are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

Arise, for the matter belongs to you and we are with you. Be courageous, and do it.”

Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore.

Then Ezra rose up from before God’s house, and went into the room of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. When he came there, he didn’t eat bread or drink water, for he mourned because of the trespass of the exiles.

They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem;

and that whoever didn’t come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited, and he himself separated from the assembly of the captivity.

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the wide place in front of God’s house, trembling because of this matter, and because of the great rain.

Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, increasing the guilt of Israel.

Now therefore make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers and do his pleasure. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.”

Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “We must do as you have said concerning us.

But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside. This is not a work of one day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.

Now let our princes be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned from us, until this matter is resolved.”

Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

The children of the captivity did so. Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers’ households, after their fathers’ houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

They finished with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month.

Among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

They gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.

Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.

Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

Of Israel: Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah.

Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.

Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza.

Of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.

Of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth.

Of the sons of Pahathmoab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.

Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel,

Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,

Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu,

Bani, Binnui, Shimei,

Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,

Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,

Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.

Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, Joel, and Benaiah.

All these had taken foreign wives. Some of them had wives by whom they had children.

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview.
This chapter records the resolution of Israel’s crisis over mixed marriages following Ezra’s prayer of confession. The community, deeply convicted, commits to a covenant to obey God’s law by sending away foreign wives and their children, culminating in a solemn, months-long process of investigation and repentance to turn away God’s wrath and restore purity to the congregation.

Flow.

Ezra’s fervent prayer and mourning trigger a corporate confession among the people, led by Shecaniah’s call for covenant renewal.
The leaders pledge to act, and Ezra enforces an oath to carry out the separation, coupled with a public summons to Jerusalem under penalty of forfeiture and exclusion.
Facing the practical difficulty of the task, the assembly delegates responsibility to appointed leaders, arranging for regional hearings to address each case.
Over three months, beginning in the tenth month and ending in the first, the names of those who married foreign women are recorded, and they commit to put them away, offering sacrifices for their sin.

Connections.
Following chapter 9, where Ezra’s intercession exposes the depth of the people’s defilement through foreign marriages, chapter 10 enacts the necessary response: corporate repentance and decisive action to uphold the covenant. The emotional and spiritual intensity of Ezra’s prayer is met with the people’s resolve to obey God’s law. This resolution paves the way for the people’s renewed dedication to holiness, implicitly preparing for the reforms later emphasized in Nehemiah, where covenant faithfulness and separation from surrounding idolatry become central to rebuilding both temple and society.

What it teaches.
The chapter underscores the seriousness of covenant fidelity and the necessity of repentance when God’s people compromise His commands, particularly in matters that threaten the worship and identity He established. The act of sending away foreign wives reflects a legal and religious effort to restore purity, not as a general principle for marriage but as a specific response to idolatrous compromise—echoing the warnings against intermarriage in Deuteronomy (cf. WCF 19.5). The collective acknowledgment of sin, the appeal to the law, and the sacrificial offerings for guilt align with the biblical pattern of repentance and atonement (cf. ; HC LD 1). The fear of God’s wrath and the desire to do His pleasure reflect a proper response to covenant breach (cf. ; WCF 3.5).

Apply.
When idolatrous compromise is exposed, the people of God must respond with decisive repentance, ordered according to His Word and carried out in humility and accountability.

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