Verse Lens · Expanded explanation

Ezra 9:11 Explained in Context

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

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Verse 11. Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.

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

Quick Meaning

This verse paraphrases prophetic land impurity and abomination language

Read It With

  • Ezra 9:6–15

Read Ezra 9:6–15 together. This verse paraphrases prophetic land impurity and abomination language Read Ezra 9:6–15 as one complete Ezra thought unit: Ezra identifies himself with Israel's accumulated guilt, recalls judgment and Persian servitude, praises a brief reviving and remnant, restates separation commands in intensified form, and ends speechless before God's righteousness.

Why This Verse Appears Here

The prayer supplies the crisis's theological logic but is a penitential speech, not a transcript of a divine command specifying chapter 10's remedy. Within that movement, this verse paraphrases prophetic land impurity and abomination language

Read Ezra 9:6–15 together

Why these verses belong together: Ezra's direct address from shame through ancestral guilt, servitude, remnant grace, land-law citation, renewed disobedience question, and final silence forms one corporate confession; chapter 10 begins Shechaniah's response.

Verse 6. And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

Verse 7. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

Verse 8. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

Verse 9. For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

Verse 10. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

Verse 11. Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.

Verse 12. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

Verse 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;

Verse 14. Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?

Verse 15. O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

Follow the Context

  1. Ezra confesses shame and guilt from the ancestors to the present.
  2. He names Persian servitude alongside a small measure of grace, reviving, and a secure hold at the temple.
  3. He paraphrases land warnings, fears renewed destruction, and ends with no claim of innocence.

What This Verse Is Not Saying

Ezra 9:11 does not authorize a conclusion that exceeds Ezra 9:6–15. The unit's explicit boundary is: The prayer is not a divine oracle commanding the chapter 10 expulsions.

What Remains True

Within Ezra's own literary movement, Ezra 9:11 paraphrases prophetic land impurity and abomination language.

How It Can Shape Life

  • Confess communal failure, verify the governing texts, seek affected voices, and separate theological diagnosis from any proposed intervention. Ezra 9:11 especially directs attention to how this verse paraphrases prophetic land impurity and abomination language.

Teach It Back

Explain Ezra 9:11's precise role in Ezra 9:6–15. 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 9:6–15 — Ezra confesses guilt and fragile grace
Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

Where care is needed

Ezra's prophetic attribution synthesizes scriptural themes rather than quoting one identifiable prophet verbatim.

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 9:6–15, 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 9:6–15

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. 760–761, translation and translator notes on 9:6–15

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