Bible Strands
Ezra 9:7
From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and subjected to the sword and to captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ezra speaks to God in prayer immediately after discovering the returned exiles' intermarriage with foreign nations, cataloging the historical consequences of that covenant failure.
The words — בְּאַשְׁמָה (be./'ash.Mah) translates to "in guilt," and עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה ('ad hai./yom ha./zeh) means "until this day," framing the confession as a continuous national reality rather than a past event.
The thread — The pattern of ancestral disobedience producing generational judgment appears in 2 Chronicles 29:6 and Daniel 9:5, while the underlying cause of such national collapse is established in Leviticus 26:14.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of inherited failure and the concrete reality of historical judgment, requiring unflinching confession before any appeal to divine mercy.
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
Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 29:6 For our fathers were unfaithful and did evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him.
- Daniel 9:5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances.
- Leviticus 26:14 If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments,
- Numbers 32:14 Now behold, you, a brood of sinners, have risen up in place of your fathers to further stoke the burning anger of the LORD against Israel.
- Deuteronomy 4:25 After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—
- Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Deuteronomy 29:22 Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.
- Deuteronomy 30:17 But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
- Deuteronomy 31:20 When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.