Let now our princes, while this matter is going on, stand for all the congregation, and let all those that have taken foreign wives in our cities come at the appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce anger of our God be turned from us.
Ezra 10:12 And the whole congregation answered and said with a loud voice, Yes, it is for us to do according to thy words.
Ezra 10:13 But the people are many, and it is a time of pouring rain, and it is not possible to stand without: neither is this a work for one day or two; for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
Ezra 10:14 Let now our princes, while this matter is going on, stand for all the congregation, and let all those that have taken foreign wives in our cities come at the appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce anger of our God be turned from us.
Ezra 10:15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.
Ezra 10:16 And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest [and] certain of the chief fathers were separated according to their fathers' houses, and all of them [expressed] by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
The verse centers on "princes", "matter", "going", "stand", "congregation", "taken", "foreign", and "wives". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "princes" and "matter", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 13's "But the people are many and it..." into verse 15's "Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and...", so "princes" and "matter" belong inside that flow. In Ezra context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "princes" and "matter" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.