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Ezra 10

Ezra 10 moves from public confession to a binding pledge and an inquiry into marriages condemned as covenant unfaithfulness.

Ezra lies weeping before God’s house as a crowd of men, women, and children gathers around him. Shecaniah proposes a covenant to send away foreign wives and their children, and Ezra secures an oath from the leaders and people. The returned exiles are summoned to Jerusalem, where they gather in heavy rain. Ezra calls for confession and separation. An inquiry lasting three months follows, and the account ends with names of men who had married foreign women.

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1Now 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.
2Shecaniah 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.
3Now 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.
4Arise, for the matter belongs to you and we are with you. Be courageous, and do it.”
5Then 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.
6Then 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.
7They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem;
8and 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.
9Then 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.
10Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, increasing the guilt of Israel.
11Now 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.”
12Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “We must do as you have said concerning us.
13But 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.
14Now 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.”
15Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.
16The 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.
18Among 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.
19They gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.
20Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.
21Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.
22Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
23Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
26Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.
28Of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
29Of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth.
30Of the sons of Pahathmoab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.
31Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
33Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
44All these had taken foreign wives. Some of them had wives by whom they had children.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Ezra 10:3Shecaniah’s proposal turns shared grief into a covenant pledge whose consequences extend to wives and children.
Ezra 10:11Ezra joins confession to obedience, calling the gathered exiles to separate from the marriages he has identified as trespass.
Ezra 10:1Ezra’s public mourning draws a weeping assembly, establishing the communal weight of the crisis before any action is proposed.
Where this chapter reaches

Nehemiah shares Ezra’s concern over marriages with surrounding peoples and the returned community’s obligation to keep God’s law. Leviticus supplies the legal background for the ram offered for guilt in verse 19, linking the priests’ acknowledgment of wrongdoing with an appointed sacrifice.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does the rain-soaked assembly reveal about the difficulty of addressing this crisis together?

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How does the closing mention of children affect your reading of the covenant proposal?

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Questions people ask about Ezra 10

Why did Ezra tell the men to send away their foreign wives?

Ezra identifies these marriages as trespass against God that increases Israel’s guilt. Shecaniah proposes sending away the wives and children under a covenant pledge, and Ezra directs the assembly to separate. The chapter presents this as obedience to God’s law, though it does not explain each marriage or cite a specific legal command.

What happened to the wives and children in Ezra 10?

Shecaniah’s proposal includes sending away both wives and children. The account records an oath, an inquiry, and a pledge by named priests to put away their wives. Its final verse notes that some marriages included children. It does not describe their departure, provision for them, or their later lives.

Did anyone oppose Ezra’s plan?

Verse 15 names Jonathan and Jahzeiah as standing against the proposal, with Meshullam and Shabbethai helping them. The preceding discussion concerns appointing leaders and arranging hearings over time. The text does not make clear whether these men opposed the separations themselves or the proposed way of handling them.

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What the Bible says about guilt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).