Ezra 10:1 (DRB)

Passage

Now when Esdras was thus praying, and beseeching, and weeping, and lying before the temple of God, there was gathered to him of Israel an exceeding great assembly of men and women and children, and the people wept with much lamentation.

Nearby Context

Ezra 10:1 Now when Esdras was thus praying, and beseeching, and weeping, and lying before the temple of God, there was gathered to him of Israel an exceeding great assembly of men and women and children, and the people wept with much lamentation.

Ezra 10:2 And Sechenias the son of Jehiel of the sons of Elam answered, and said to Esdras: We have sinned against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: and now if there be repentance in Israel concerning this,

Ezra 10:3 Let us make a covenant with the Lord our God, to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the will of the Lord, and of them that fear the commandment of the Lord our God: let it be done according to the law.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "esdras", "thus", "praying", "beseeching", "weeping", "lying", "before", and "temple". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "esdras" and "thus", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The next verse adds "And Sechenias the son of Jehiel of...", so "esdras" and "thus" should be read forward into that movement. In Ezra context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "esdras" and "thus" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.