Verse Lens · Expanded explanation

Ezra 10:15 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 15. Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse preserves four men's disputed opposition or administrative involvement

Read It With

  • Ezra 10:9–15

Read Ezra 10:9–15 together. This verse preserves four men's disputed opposition or administrative involvement Read Ezra 10:9–15 as one complete Ezra thought unit: Judah and Benjamin assemble in heavy rain. Ezra demands confession, separation from surrounding peoples, and dismissal of foreign wives; the assembly assents but asks for a longer, locally organized inquiry, while four men oppose or stand against the proposal.

Why This Verse Appears Here

The scene shows both pressure and procedural negotiation, including recorded opposition that should not be erased. Within that movement, this verse preserves four men's disputed opposition or administrative involvement

Read Ezra 10:9–15 together

Why these verses belong together: The three-day gathering, trembling, Ezra's accusation and commands, assembly's assent, weather and scale objections, proposed local hearings, and named opponents form one public deliberation; verse 16 begins implementation.

Verse 9. Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.

Verse 10. And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.

Verse 11. 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.

Verse 12. Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

Verse 13. But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.

Verse 14. Let 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.

Verse 15. Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

Follow the Context

  1. The assembly gathers trembling in heavy rain.
  2. Ezra accuses the people and commands separation and dismissal; they voice agreement.
  3. The crowd requests scheduled local hearings, and four named men oppose or resist the course.

Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation

“employed about this matter”

In plain language: Four named men stand in a disputed relation to the policy.

The Hebrew may indicate opposition or involvement.

Why it matters: The text preserves uncertainty and possible dissent.

How certain? probable

What This Verse Is Not Saying

Ezra 10:15 does not turn the fact that it preserves four men's disputed opposition or administrative involvement into a standalone universal rule. Recorded dissent is not permission to portray opponents as enemies of God.

What Remains True

Within Ezra's own literary movement, Ezra 10:15 preserves four men's disputed opposition or administrative involvement.

How It Can Shape Life

  • Apply Ezra 10:15 by noticing that it preserves four men's disputed opposition or administrative involvement; in a comparable situation, do not decide marriages or custody by congregational vote; use confidential, voluntary, legally informed support centered on safety.

Teach It Back

Explain Ezra 10:15's precise role in Ezra 10:9–15. Include its Persian-period, temple, Torah, identity, administrative, or family context as relevant, one material uncertainty, and one conclusion it does not authorize.

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Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Ezra 10:9–15 — The rainy assembly accepts an investigative process
Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

Where care is needed

The four men's exact role is disputed because the Hebrew idiom can signal opposition or involvement.

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.

Exact location: Ezra 10:9–15, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew aramaic text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezra

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic wording, morphology, names, clause relations, and translation controls.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezra.xml, Hebrew and Aramaic words and morphology for 10:9–15

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: Ezra with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Material lexical, grammatical, textual, Persian-period, numerical, and translation notes within the unit.

Exact location: NET Bible Ezra PDF, printed pp. 761–762, translation and translator notes on 10:9–15

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