Ezra 9:6

and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Ezra addresses God during the evening offering, rising from a posture of torn garments and kneeling to lift his face in prayer.

The words — The Hebrew בֹּשְׁתִּי וְ/נִכְלַמְתִּי (bo.shet ve./niklam) literally means "I am ashamed and I am humiliated," describing his physical and spiritual reaction before God.

The thread — The motif of guilt reaching heaven appears in Psalms 38:4, where iniquities overwhelm the speaker, and Revelation 18:5, which records sins piled up to heaven.

Why it lands — The text states that collective iniquity and guilt have exceeded human capacity to bear or conceal, requiring the reader to acknowledge the weight of corporate sin before approaching God.

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

וָאֹמְרָ֗הva./'o.me.Ra/hand/ I said/ !אֱלֹהַי֙'e.lo.Ha/iO God/ my בֹּ֣שְׁתִּיBo.she.tiI am ashamed וְנִכְלַ֔מְתִּיve./nikh.Lam.tiand/ I am humiliated לְהָרִ֧יםle./ha.Rimto/ lift up אֱלֹהַ֛י'e.lo.Ha/iO God/ my פָּנַ֖יpa.Na/iface/ my אֵלֶ֑יךָ'e.Lei./khato/ you כִּ֣יkifor עֲוֹנֹתֵ֤ינוּ'a.vo.no.Tei./nuiniquities/ our רָבוּ֙ra.Vuthey have increased לְמַ֣עְלָהle./Ma'.la/h<to>/ upwards/ <towards>רֹּ֔אשׁRosha head וְאַשְׁמָתֵ֥נוּve./'ash.ma.Te./nuand/ guilt/ our גָדְלָ֖הga.de.Lahit is great עַ֥ד'adto לַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃la./sha.Ma.yim<to> the/ heavens

King James Version

And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

Cross-references

Revelation 18:5 For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
Psalms 38:4 For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.
2 Chronicles 28:9 But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army that returned to Samaria. “Look,” he said to them, “because of His wrath against Judah, the LORD, the God of your fathers, has delivered them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches up to heaven.
Ezra 9:15 O LORD, God of Israel, You are righteous! For we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before You.”
Job 42:6 Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
Luke 15:21 The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
Jeremiah 3:24 From our youth, that shameful god has consumed what our fathers have worked for—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
Genesis 13:13 But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.
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),
Job 40:4 “Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.