Ezra 9:3 (DBY)

Passage

And when I heard this thing, I rent my mantle and my garment, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down overwhelmed.

Nearby Context

Ezra 9:1 Now when these things were completed, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites;

Ezra 9:2 for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and have mingled the holy seed with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this unfaithfulness.

Ezra 9:3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my mantle and my garment, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down overwhelmed.

Ezra 9:4 Then were assembled to me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the unfaithfulness of those that had been carried away; and I sat overwhelmed until the evening oblation.

Ezra 9:5 And at the evening oblation I arose up from my humiliation; and with my mantle and my garment rent, I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Jehovah my God,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "heard", "rent", "mantle", "garment", "plucked", "hair", "head", and "beard". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "heard" and "rent", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "for they have taken of their daughters..." into verse 4's "Then were assembled to me every one...", so "heard" and "rent" 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 "heard" and "rent" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.