Bible Strands

Ezra 9:13

After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Ezra speaks to God in corporate prayer, confessing the community’s past failures and warning against repeating intermarriage with surrounding peoples. The statement occurs mid-confession, bridging acknowledgment of past judgment with a rhetorical challenge to avoid further covenant violation.

The words — אַשְמָתֵנוּ ('ash.ma.te.nu) = our guilt and הַגְּדֹלָה (ha.ge.do.lah) = the great. These terms quantify the weight of the community’s transgressions that triggered divine discipline.

The thread — The tension between deserved punishment and preserved remnant echoes Psalms 103:10, Lamentations 3:22, and Lamentations 3:39, where divine response to sin is measured and covenant survival depends on acknowledging fault rather than complaining.

Why it lands — It requires the reader to accept disciplinary consequences as proportionate to sin, recognize that survival is unmerited grace, and respond by obeying covenant boundaries instead of repeating past failures.

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

וְאַֽחֲרֵי֙ve./'a.cha.Reiand/ afterכָּל־kol-everyהַבָּ֣אha./Ba'<the>/ [thing which] has comeעָלֵ֔ינוּ'a.Lei./nuon/ usבְּמַעֲשֵׂ֙ינוּ֙be./ma.'a.Sei./nuby/ deeds/ ourהָרָעִ֔יםha./ra.'Im<the>/ evilוּבְאַשְׁמָתֵ֖נוּu./ve./'ash.ma.Te./nuand/ by/ guilt/ ourהַגְּדֹלָ֑הha./ge.do.Lah<the>/ greatכִּ֣י׀kiforאַתָּ֣ה'a.Tahyouאֱלֹהֵ֗ינוּ'e.lo.Hei./nuO God/ ourחָשַׂ֤כְתָּֽcha.Sakh.tayou have withheldלְמַ֙טָּה֙le./Ma.tah<to>/ downwardsמֵֽעֲוֹנֵ֔נוּme./'a.vo.Ne./nufrom/ iniquity/ ourוְנָתַ֥תָּהve./na.Ta.tahand/ you have givenלָּ֛נוּLa./nuto/ usפְּלֵיטָ֖הpe.lei.Tahan escaped remnantכָּזֹֽאת׃ka./Zotlike/ this

King James Version

And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;

Cross-references