Ezra 10:11 (WEB)

Passage

Now therefore make confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women.”

Nearby Context

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

Ezra 10:10 Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel.

Ezra 10:11 Now therefore make confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women.”

Ezra 10:12 Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “As you have said concerning us, 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 outside. This is not a work of one day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "make", "confession", "yahweh", "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 "Ezra the priest stood up and said..." into verse 12's "Then all the assembly answered with a...", 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.