The Meaning of Ezra 10:11 Explained

Ezra 10:11

KJV: Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

YLT: and, now, make confession to Jehovah, God of your fathers, and do His good pleasure, and be separated from the peoples of the land, and from the strange women.'

Darby: And now make confession to Jehovah the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign wives.

ASV: Now therefore make confession unto Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Now therefore make  confession  unto the LORD  God  of your fathers,  and do  his pleasure:  and separate  yourselves from the people  of the land,  and from the strange  wives. 

What does Ezra 10:11 Mean?

Context Summary

Ezra 10:1-19 - Putting Away Strange Marriages
The people seem to have been more impressed by Ezra's intense grief of soul than they could have been by his severest condemnation. Is not this the secret of winning men from their evil ways? But we must not expend all our force in tears; we must act when we have opportunity. Shechaniah was not implicated, but his father and other near relatives were, Ezra 10:26. His words may be appropriated by us all, Ezra 10:2. There is always hope for the man who repents and puts away evil. It is a great encouragement when brave men will stand by the reformer, but whether they do or not, there is One who neither leaves nor forsakes, Hebrews 13:5-6. A drastic remedy was required; it seemed very hard and must have occasioned many heartbreaks. Probably if a wife had truly turned to the God of Israel, she would have been retained. God demands the sacrifice of anything which comes between us and Him, however dear, Mark 9:43; Matthew 10:37. There is no warrant for such action in our days. The process of the Gospel is given in 1 Corinthians 7:12-13. A solemn assembly was convened in the month of December, the coldest and rainiest time of the year. A court of inquiry was finally appointed, who continued their labors for about a quarter of a year. The offense seems to have been temporarily eradicated, though we meet with it again, Nehemiah 13:23; Malachi 2:11. Each generation repeats the sins of its predecessors, unwarned by their bitter experiences. Not the study of history, but the Spirit of God is needed to deal with and subdue individual and national sins [source]

Chapter Summary: Ezra 10

1  Ezra encouraged to reform the strange marriages
6  Ezra assembles the people
9  The people repent, and promise amendment
15  The care to perform it
18  The names of them which had married strange wives

What do the individual words in Ezra 10:11 mean?

Now therefore make confession to Yahweh God of your fathers and do His will and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the wives pagan
וְעַתָּ֗ה תְּנ֥וּ תוֹדָ֛ה לַיהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵֽי־ אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֖ם וַעֲשׂ֣וּ רְצוֹנ֑וֹ וְהִבָּֽדְלוּ֙ מֵעַמֵּ֣י הָאָ֔רֶץ וּמִן־ הַנָּשִׁ֖ים הַנָּכְרִיּֽוֹת

וְעַתָּ֗ה  Now  therefore 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: עַתָּה  
Sense: now.
תְּנ֥וּ  make 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: יָתַן 
Sense: to give, put, set.
תוֹדָ֛ה  confession 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: תֹּודָה  
Sense: confession, praise, thanksgiving.
לַיהוָ֥ה  to  Yahweh 
Parse: Preposition-l, Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
אֱלֹהֵֽי־  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).
אֲבֹתֵיכֶ֖ם  of  your  fathers 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: אָב  
Sense: father of an individual.
וַעֲשׂ֣וּ  and  do 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: עָשָׂה 
Sense: to do, fashion, accomplish, make.
רְצוֹנ֑וֹ  His  will 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: רָצֹון  
Sense: pleasure, delight, favour, goodwill, acceptance, will.
וְהִבָּֽדְלוּ֙  and  separate  yourselves 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Nifal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: בָּדַל  
Sense: to divide, separate.
מֵעַמֵּ֣י  from  the  peoples 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: עַם 
Sense: nation, people.
הָאָ֔רֶץ  of  the  land 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
וּמִן־  and  from 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: מִן 
Sense: from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than.
הַנָּשִׁ֖ים  the  wives 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine plural
Root: אִשָּׁה  
Sense: woman, wife, female.
הַנָּכְרִיּֽוֹת  pagan 
Parse: Article, Adjective, feminine plural
Root: נָכְרִי  
Sense: foreign, alien.