Bible Strands
Ezra 10:19
They pledged to send their wives away, and for their guilt they presented a ram from the flock as a guilt offering.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The priests descended from Jeshua son of Jozadak and the men who had married foreign women pledge to send their wives away during Ezra’s post-exilic covenant renewal. This action follows a recorded list of offending priestly families and precedes the continuation of that same list.
The words — נְשֵׁי/הֶ֑ם (ne.shéhem) = wives/their; אֵֽיל (êl) = ram. The phrase אֵֽיל־ צֹ֖אן (êl tson) literally denotes a ram drawn from the flock.
The thread — The text links the men’s atonement to the Levitical guilt offering requirements in Leviticus 5:15 and Leviticus 6:6. Both passages mandate an unblemished ram from the flock to address covenant violation.
Why it lands — The passage requires concrete separation from forbidden alliances and immediate submission to prescribed atonement rituals. A reader must recognize that covenant fidelity demands both relational action and ritual compliance.
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 they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 6:6 Then he must bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock.
- 2 Kings 10:15 When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, “Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?” “It is!” Jehonadab replied. “If it is,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot,
- Leviticus 5:15 “If someone acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s holy things, he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram from the flock, of proper value in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering.
- Leviticus 6:4 once he has sinned and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found,
- 1 Chronicles 29:24 All the officials and mighty men, as well as all of King David’s sons, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.
- 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.
- Lamentations 5:6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.
- Galatians 2:9 And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John—those reputed to be pillars—gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.