Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Ezra 6:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse describes unified priestly purification and Passover preparation
Read It With
- Ezra 6:19–22
Read Ezra 6:19–22 together. This verse describes unified priestly purification and Passover preparation Read Ezra 6:19–22 as one complete Ezra thought unit: Purified priests and Levites keep Passover for the returnees and themselves. Those who separate from land pollution to seek the LORD join the meal, and seven joyful days celebrate divine strengthening under Persian rule.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Passover interprets restoration as a new-exodus-like deliverance and complicates a purely genealogical boundary by admitting seekers who change religious allegiance and practice. Within that movement, this verse describes unified priestly purification and Passover preparation
Read Ezra 6:19–22 together
Why these verses belong together: Passover preparation, sacrifice, participation by returnees and separated seekers, Unleavened Bread, joy, and the king's support form the worship climax; 7:1 shifts decades later to Ezra under Artaxerxes.
Verse 19. 19 And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.
Verse 20. 20 For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.
Verse 21. 21 And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat,
Verse 22. 22 And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Follow the Context
- The returnees keep Passover on the appointed date.
- Purified temple personnel kill the lambs for returnees and themselves.
- Returnees and those separated from land pollution eat and celebrate because the LORD gives joy and strengthens the work.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Ezra 6:20 does not turn the fact that it describes unified priestly purification and Passover preparation into a standalone universal rule. The added participants are not described as inferior guests.
What Remains True
Within Ezra's own literary movement, Ezra 6:20 describes unified priestly purification and Passover preparation.
How It Can Shape Life
- Apply Ezra 6:20 by noticing that it describes unified priestly purification and Passover preparation; in a comparable situation, define participation by transparent commitments and safe practices, reject ethnic tests, and honor people who join without treating them as permanent outsiders.
Teach It Back
Explain Ezra 6:20's precise role in Ezra 6:19–22. 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 6:19–22 — Passover joins returnees and separated seekersSources 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 6:19–22, 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 6:19–22
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. 755–756, translation and translator notes on 6:19–22
Open source ↗