# Ezra 09 📖: Ezra's Prayer of Confession [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Ezra Overview]] | [[Ezra 08]] | [[Ezra 10]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ## A Prayer of Ezra [[#Verse 01.]] Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.  [[#Verse 02.]] Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all this unfaithfulness!” [[#Verse 03.]] When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and my robe and ripped out some of the hair from my head and beard. Then I sat down, quite devastated.  [[#Verse 04.]] Everyone who held the words of the God of Israel in awe gathered around me because of the unfaithful acts of the people of the exile. Devastated, I continued to sit there until the evening offering. [[#Verse 05.]] At the time of the evening offering I got up from my self-abasement, with my tunic and robe torn, and then dropped to my knees and spread my hands to the Lord my God.  [[#Verse 06.]] I prayed: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens.  [[#Verse 07.]] From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and priests, have been delivered over by the local kings to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment—right up to the present time. [[#Verse 08.]] “But now briefly we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude.  [[#Verse 09.]] Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us to restore the temple of our God and to raise up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem. [[#Verse 10.]] “And now what are we able to say after this, our God? For we have forsaken your commandments  [[#Verse 11.]] which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness. [[#Verse 12.]] Therefore do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, and do not take their daughters in marriage for your sons. Do not ever seek their peace or welfare, so that you may be strong and may eat the good of the land and may leave it as an inheritance for your children forever.’ [[#Verse 13.]] “Everything that has happened to us has come about because of our wicked actions and our great guilt. Even so, our God, you have exercised restraint toward our iniquities and have given us a remnant such as this. [[#Verse 14.]] Shall we once again break your commandments and intermarry with these abominable peoples? Would you not be so angered by us that you would wipe us out, with no survivor or remnant?  [[#Verse 15.]] O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt no one can really stand before you.” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. About four months passed between Ezra's arrival in the fifth month (7:9) and the great assembly in the ninth month (10:9). 2. The list of nations in 9:1 echoes the peoples of Canaan named in Deuteronomy 7:1-3, where Israel was told not to intermarry with them. 3. Deuteronomy 7:4 explains the reason for the command: such marriages would turn hearts away to serve other gods. 4. Ruth the Moabite and Rahab of Jericho joined Israel by faith in the Lord, showing that faith, not ancestry, was the dividing line. 5. Tearing one's garment and robe (9:3) was a common sign of grief in the ancient Near East. 6. Pulling out hair from the head and beard (9:3) showed extreme distress. Nehemiah later pulled out the hair of offenders instead (Nehemiah 13:25). 7. Ezra sat appalled until the evening offering (9:4-5), the daily sacrifice offered in the late afternoon. 8. Ezra's prayer (9:6-15) is one of the great prayers of confession after the exile, along with Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9. 9. The "peg" in 9:8 pictures a tent stake or nail, a small but secure hold God had given His people. 10. Ezra's prayer contains no request. He simply confesses the sin and declares that God is righteous (9:15). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the righteous One who bore the guilt Ezra confessed. Ezra said their guilt had grown up to the heavens (9:6), but God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Ezra included himself when he confessed the people's sin (9:6-7). Why is it important for leaders to identify with the sins of those they lead? 2. Ezra described God's grace as a secure peg in His holy place and a little relief in their bondage (9:8-9). Where have you experienced God's mercy even in hard seasons? 3. The issue was faithfulness, not ethnicity, because these marriages drew people into the detestable practices of the nations (9:1-2). How can believers today guard their hearts in close relationships (2 Corinthians 6:14)? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verses 1-2: Leaders report that the people, including priests and Levites, have intermarried with the surrounding peoples. - 📖 verse 6: Ezra is too ashamed to lift his face to God because their sins are higher than their heads. - 📖 verses 8-9: Ezra recognizes God's grace in leaving a remnant and reviving His people in their bondage. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Deuteronomy 07#Verse 01.|Deuteronomy 7:1-4]] - God warns against marriages that would turn hearts to other gods. - 🔗 [[Nehemiah 09#Verse 33.|Nehemiah 9:33]] - God has been just in all that has happened. - 🔗 [[Daniel 09#Verse 04.|Daniel 9:4-19]] - Daniel confesses the sins of his people. - 🔗 [[2 Corinthians 06#Verse 14.|2 Corinthians 6:14]] - Believers should not be bound together with unbelievers. - 🔗 [[2 Corinthians 05#Verse 21.|2 Corinthians 5:21]] - Christ took our sin so we could receive God's righteousness. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Ezra 09 - SOAP|The First Step, Own It]] ## 📂 Internal Notes