{"id":7364,"date":"2023-11-02T00:01:11","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T07:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7364"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:36:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:36:51","slug":"ezra-1010-11-then-ezra-the-priest-stood-up-and-said-to-them-you-have-transgressed-and-have-taken-pagan-wives-adding-to-the-guilt-of-israel-now-therefore-make-confession-to-the-lord-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7364","title":{"rendered":"Ezra 10:10\u201311: “Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, ‘You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives.'”"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ezra arrived in Jerusalem, he discovered that the exiles who had returned years earlier, even some of the priest and Levites, had taken foreign wives, something God had expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy 7:3. Ezra told them that they had to separate themselves from their pagan<\/em> wives, which is a clearer translation than the NIV, which uses the term foreign<\/em>. The problem was not a racial issue but a holiness issue. These pagan wives were practicing an idol-worshiping, false religion that God had forbidden. Instead of the Jewish husbands leading their wives into worship of the true God, they were being drawn off by their wives into false worship of other gods. This is the reason the Apostle Paul in the New Testament warned the Corinthians: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14).<\/p>\n

God doesn’t mean for believers to end all association with unbelievers. We are meant to be in their lives, and herein lies the challenge, how to be a friend of sinners and at the same time remain separate from sinners. In fact, the reason God saves believers and leaves them on earth is so that they can be salt and light in a dark world, to be witnesses to unbelievers. It is a matter of relationships. God is concerned about partnerships that determine association. For example, a pig has a pig\u2019s nature, so it associates with other pigs in the mud hole. In the same respect a sheep has a sheep\u2019s nature, and it munches grass with the flock in the pasture. It is true that pigs can live on pasture, but they’re much happier rooting around in gushy mud. Another example can be found in what happens when earthquakes occur. Two plates on a fault line suddenly shift against each other, violently lurching in opposite directions. The result in populated areas is death and ruin. The destruction unleashed by 2 tectonic plates depicts what happens when a believer bonds unequally with a non-believer. Two people connected to each other but going in different directions can only lead to trouble.<\/p>\n

“LORD, keep us focused on influencing others toward good today, and help us not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers who would pull us away from You.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Ezra 10 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel,\u00a0one\u00a0<\/em>of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Now 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 that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.\u00a0\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Arise; for\u00a0this\u00a0<\/em>matter\u00a0belongeth\u00a0<\/em>unto thee: we also\u00a0will be\u00a0<\/em>with thee: be of good courage, and do\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware. 6<\/sup>\u00a0Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and\u00a0when\u00a0<\/em>he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>the ninth month, on the twentieth\u00a0day\u00a0<\/em>of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of\u00a0this\u00a0<\/em>matter, and for the great rain.\u00a0\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.\u00a0\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Now therefore make confession unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0But the people\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>many, and\u00a0it is\u00a0<\/em>a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither\u00a0is this\u00a0<\/em>a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.\u00a0\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this\u00a0matter:\u00a0<\/em>and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest,\u00a0with\u00a0<\/em>certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by\u00a0their\u00a0<\/em>names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.\u00a017<\/sup>And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month. 18<\/sup>\u00a0And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives:\u00a0namely\u00a0<\/em>, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and\u00a0being\u00a0<\/em>guilty,\u00a0they offered\u00a0<\/em>a ram of the flock for their trespass.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0Of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0Of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Athlai.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0And of the sons of Pahath-moab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0And\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0Benjamin, Malluch,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Shemariah.\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh,\u00a0and<\/em>Shimei.\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,\u00a035<\/sup>\u00a0Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh,\u00a036<\/sup>\u00a0Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,\u00a037<\/sup>\u00a0Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,\u00a038<\/sup>\u00a0And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,\u00a039<\/sup>\u00a0And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,\u00a040<\/sup>Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,\u00a0\u00a041<\/sup>\u00a0Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,\u00a042<\/sup>\u00a0Shallum, Amariah,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Joseph.\u00a043<\/sup>\u00a0Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.\u00a044<\/sup>\u00a0All these had taken strange wives: and\u00a0some\u00a0<\/em>of them had wives by whom they had children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Ezra arrived in Jerusalem, he discovered that the exiles who had returned years earlier, even some of the priest and Levites, had taken foreign wives, something God had expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy 7:3. Ezra told them that they had to separate themselves from their pagan wives, which is a clearer translation than the NIV, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7364"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16401,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7364\/revisions\/16401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}