Ezra 10:11-13

Amplified Bible

¹¹So now, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do His will. ^[a]Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from [your] foreign wives.” ¹²Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, “It is our responsibility to do just as you have said. ¹³But there are many people and it is the season of heavy rain; so we are unable to stand outside. Nor can the task be done in a day or two, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.

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Footnotes

Ezra 10:11 The severity of Ezra’s policy is justified considering Israel’s tragic experiences resulting from marriages to pagan women. The consequent idolatry, first of King Solomon, and then of the whole nation, was fatal. God’s wrath had been so great that He not only took the kingship from Solomon, but eventually turned the Israelites over to their enemies and left the promised land desolate, while the people mourned their fate as captives in a pagan country. Ezra, to whom the keeping of God’s law was of constant concern, had been born in captivity among exiles who grieved for the country, peace and prosperity which God had once given them. Leading the exiles to give up their foreign wives and children was the only way to avoid God’s wrath.