Bible Strands
Ezra 6:21
The Israelites who had returned from exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to seek the LORD, the God of Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the post-exilic community’s Passover observance immediately after the Levites slaughter the lamb and complete their purification. The account addresses the returned exiles and associated outsiders who joined them at the table.
The words — הַנִּבְדָּל (ha.niv.Dal) translates literally to "the one who had separated himself," and טֻמְאָת (tum.'at) means "uncleanness." These terms anchor the verse’s focus on deliberate ritual and moral separation.
The thread — The requirement to separate from defilement runs through Ezra 9:11’s warning about a polluted land, Isaiah 52:11’s command to touch no unclean thing, and 2 Corinthians 7:1’s instruction to cleanse oneself from everything that defiles body and spirit.
Why it lands — The text states that covenant participation requires physical and ritual separation from the surrounding nations' defilement to properly seek the Lord. Readers must acknowledge that access to God's worship demands deliberate removal from sources of impurity.
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 Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat,
Cross-references
- Ezra 9:11 that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end.
- Isaiah 52:11 Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
- Exodus 12:47 The whole congregation of Israel must celebrate it.
- Ezra 9:1 After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
- Nehemiah 9:2 Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
- Ezekiel 36:25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
- Numbers 9:6 But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day
- Numbers 9:10 “Tell the Israelites: ‘When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a dead body, or is away on a journey, he may still observe the Passover to the LORD.
- Nehemiah 10:28 “The rest of the people—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants, and all who had separated themselves from the people of the land to obey the Law of God—along with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand,