Bible Strands
Ezra 10:16
So the exiles did as proposed. Ezra the priest selected men who were family heads, each of them identified by name, to represent their families. On the first day of the tenth month they launched the investigation,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ezra records the immediate implementation of the community's agreement to dissolve foreign marriages. The narrator describes how the exiles complied with the plan by appointing named family heads to conduct a formal investigation on the first day of the tenth month.
The words — The text emphasizes וַ/יִּבָּדְלוּ֩ (va/i.yi.ba.de.Lu), "and they separated themselves," alongside אֲנָשִׁ֨ים ('a.na.Shim), "men," specifically selected as identified family representatives to oversee the process.
The thread — This structured inquiry mirrors the judicial mandate in Deuteronomy 13:14 to thoroughly investigate suspected covenant violation, while the implicit procedural fairness reflects the principle articulated in John 7:51 regarding hearing a defendant before conviction.
Why it lands — The passage requires a reader to acknowledge that covenant accountability demands organized, verifiable action rather than abstract commitment, and that corporate repentance must be executed through designated leadership to ensure thoroughness.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 13:14 then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you,
- Job 29:16 I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger.
- John 7:51 “Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”