Ezra 10:11 (KJV)

Passage

Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

Nearby Context

Ezra 10:9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.

Ezra 10:10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.

Ezra 10:11 Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

Ezra 10:12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

Ezra 10:13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "make", "confession", "lord", "fathers", "pleasure", "separate", and "yourselves". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "make", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "And Ezra the priest stood up and..." into verse 12's "Then all the congregation answered and said...", so "therefore" and "make" 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 "therefore" and "make" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.