Uzair 10

Now while Uzair1 prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the House of God, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very much. 2Shecaniah son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Uzair, “We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land: yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. 3Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the Taurat.2 4Arise; for the matter belongs to you, and we are with you: be of good courage, and do it.” 

5Then Uzair arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites3, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore. 6Then Uzair rose up from before the House of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib: and when he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of the trespass of the exiles. 7They made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem; 8and that whoever did not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited, and he himself separated from the assembly of the captivity. 

9Then all the men of Judah and Binyamin4 gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month: and all the people sat in the broad place before the House of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the heavy rain.

10Uzair the priest stood up, and said to them, “You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel. 11Now therefore make confession to YAHWEH5, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women.”

12Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “As you have said concerning us, so must we do. 13But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside: neither is this a work of one day or two; for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. 14Let now our princes be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and their judges, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, until this matter be dispatched.” 

15Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah stood up against this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. 

16The children of the captivity did so. Uzair the priest, with certain heads of fathers’ households, according to their fathers’ households, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. 17They finished with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month. 

18Among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women: namely, of the sons of Yusha6 son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. 19They gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt. 20Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah. 21Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Ilyas7, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. 22Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ismail8, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah. 23Of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. 24Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the porters: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri. 25Of Israel: Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. 26Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zakariyya9, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Ilyas. 27Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. 28Of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. 29Of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth. 30Of the sons of Pahath-Moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. 31of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, 32Binyamin, Malluch, Shemariah. 33Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei. 34Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Imran, and Uel, 35Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, 36Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu, 38and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, 39and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, 40Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42Shallum, Amariah, Yusuf10. 43Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah. 

44All these had taken foreign wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

Next Page

  1. 10:1 Uzair, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Ezra, meaning “helper” or “strength”. ↩︎
  2. 10:3 Taurat, this Arabic term is derived from the Hebrew word Torah, which means “instruction” or “teaching.” Depending on context, Taurat can refer to, 
    1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament.
    2. The revelation given to Prophet Musa, that is, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books are attributed to Prophet Musa himself. This is the traditional and most common meaning given to Taurat or Torah.
    3. The Law of Musa found within the Pentateuch, with its hundreds of rules and regulations covering many aspects of daily life for the people of Israel. The most famous of these laws are the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
    4. Taurat can also refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book of the Hebrew Bible. ↩︎
  3. 10:5 Levites, the descendants of Levi, one of the 12 sons of Prophet Yaqub (Jacob), from whose family line came all the priests who served in the Holy House of God, the Temple at Jerusalem. ↩︎
  4. 10:9 Binyamin, or Benjamin, derived from the Hebrew name Benyamin, meaning “Son of the right hand.”  ↩︎
  5. 10:11 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
  6. 10:18 Yusha, this Arabic name and the names Joshua and Jeshua are derived from the Hebrew name Yeshua, which means “YAHWEH saves.” Yeshua also gives rise to the Arabic names ‘Isa and Yesu, as well as the Greek name Iesous, which is rendered Jesus in English. ↩︎
  7. 10:21 Ilyas, Arabic form of Elijah or Elias, derived from the Hebrew name Eliyahu, which means “My God is YAHWEH.”  ↩︎
  8. 10:22 Ismail, derived from the Hebrew Ishmael which means “God hears.” ↩︎
  9. 10:26 Zakariyya, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Zechariah, which means “YAHWEH remembers.”  ↩︎
  10. 10:42 Yusuf, or Joseph, derived from the Hebrew name Yosef. ↩︎