Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Ezra 10:2 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 2. 2And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse has Shechaniah confess foreign marriages while claiming hope remains
Read It With
- Ezra 10:1–4
Read Ezra 10:1–4 together. This verse has Shechaniah confess foreign marriages while claiming hope remains Read Ezra 10:1–4 as one complete Ezra thought unit: As Ezra prays, a large crowd weeps. Shechaniah confesses marriages with foreign women, claims hope remains, and proposes a covenant to send away the wives and children according to counsel and the law, urging Ezra to act.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The scene identifies who originates the remedy and exposes the difference between sincere repentance, claimed legal authority, and a process that has not yet heard affected families. Within that movement, this verse has Shechaniah confess foreign marriages while claiming hope remains
Read Ezra 10:1–4 together
Why these verses belong together: Ezra's prayer and prostration, gathering and weeping, Shechaniah's confession, proposed covenant to dismiss wives and children, asserted law, and charge to Ezra form the initial proposal; verse 5 begins oath enforcement.
Verse 1. 1 Now 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.
Verse 2. 2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one 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.
Verse 3. 3 Now 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.
Verse 4. 4 Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
Follow the Context
- Ezra prays and weeps while a large assembly gathers and weeps bitterly.
- Shechaniah names trespass yet declares hope.
- He proposes sending away wives and children, attributes the policy to counsel and law, and tells Ezra to take responsibility.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Ezra 10:2 does not turn the fact that it has Shechaniah confess foreign marriages while claiming hope remains into a standalone universal rule. Claiming a policy is according to law does not prove its interpretation or ethics beyond review.
What Remains True
Within Ezra's own literary movement, Ezra 10:2 has Shechaniah confess foreign marriages while claiming hope remains.
How It Can Shape Life
- Apply Ezra 10:2 by noticing that it has Shechaniah confess foreign marriages while claiming hope remains; in a comparable situation, never adopt a family-separation remedy from a leader's proposal alone; require consent-sensitive, lawful, case-specific pastoral and safeguarding review.
Teach It Back
Explain Ezra 10:2's precise role in Ezra 10:1–4. 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 10:1–4 — A crowd weeps and Shechaniah proposes expulsionSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
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 10:1–4, 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 10:1–4
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 10:1–4
Open source ↗