Bible Strands
Ezra 10:14
Let our leaders represent the whole assembly. Then let everyone in our towns who has married a foreign woman come at an appointed time, together with the elders and judges of each town, until the fierce anger of our God in this matter is turned away from us.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The assembled Israelites respond to Ezra’s proposal during the rainy season, directing town leaders, elders, and judges to convene at a set time to process cases of intermarriage.
The words — יַֽעֲמְדוּ (ya.'amdu) literally means “let them stand” or take position, while נָא (na) functions as an emphatic “please” or “now,” urging immediate compliance.
The thread — The plea to turn away God’s fierce anger echoes the covenant renewal appeals in 2 Chronicles 29:10 and 30:8, while the call for leaders to represent the people recalls the judicial framework in Numbers 25:4.
Why it lands — The text demands organized, communal accountability for covenant violations, requiring readers to examine how institutional structure and collective responsibility address corporate sin.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 29:10 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us.
- 2 Chronicles 30:8 Now do not stiffen your necks as your fathers did. Submit to the LORD and come to His sanctuary, which He has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that His fierce anger will turn away from you.
- Numbers 25:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
- Deuteronomy 13:17 Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,
- Deuteronomy 17:9 You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case.
- Deuteronomy 17:18 When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
- Joshua 7:26 And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.
- 2 Chronicles 19:5 He appointed judges in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah.
- Psalms 78:38 And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.
- Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.