Bible Strands
Ezra 10:5
So Ezra got up and made the leading priests, Levites, and all Israel take an oath to do what had been said. And they took the oath.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezra stands before the assembled community immediately after Shecaniah’s directive in Ezra 10:4, addressing the leading priests, Levites, and all Israel at this moment of corporate accountability. He acts as the catalyst for a formal response to the crisis of intermarriage.
The words — The text highlights וַ/יַּשְׁבַּ֣ע (va/i.yash.Ba') = and he made to swear an oath, alongside עֶזְרָ֡א ('ez.Ra) = Ezra, to mark the shift from proposal to enforced covenant. These terms anchor the verse in the concrete act of binding the community through a sworn commitment.
The thread — This pattern of sworn compliance and communal covenant appears in Nehemiah 5:12, where leaders swear to restore what was taken, and Nehemiah 13:25, where Nehemiah forces a similar oath regarding foreign marriages. Ezra 10:3 also establishes the initial covenant proposal that this verse executes.
Why it lands — The verse demands immediate, public obedience to a revealed standard, showing that corporate repentance requires structured accountability. It asks the reader to recognize that spiritual renewal begins when leaders and communities bind themselves to concrete action rather than mere agreement.
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
Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.
Cross-references
- Nehemiah 13:25 I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
- Nehemiah 5:12 “We will restore it,” they replied, “and will require nothing more from them. We will do as you say.” So I summoned the priests and required of the nobles and officials an oath that they would do what they had promised.
- Ezra 10:3 So now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.
- Nehemiah 10:29 hereby join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the Law of God given through His servant Moses and to obey carefully all the commandments, ordinances, and statutes of the LORD our Lord.
- Proverbs 1:5 let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel
- Proverbs 9:9 Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.
- Proverbs 15:23 A man takes joy in a fitting reply—and how good is a timely word!
- Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
- Proverbs 27:9 Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the counsel of a friend is sweetness to the soul.
- Matthew 26:63 But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.”