Ezra 10:14 — Meaning and Application

Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

But the people {are} many, and {it is} a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither {is this} a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing. {we are many...: or, we have greatly offended in this thing}

Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us. {for this...: or, till this matter be dispatched}

Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this {matter}: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. {were...: Heb. stood}

And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, {with} certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by {their} names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.