Ezra 7:26 (WEB)

Passage

Whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it is to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

Nearby Context

Ezra 7:24 Also we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or laborers of this house of God.

Ezra 7:25 You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, who all know the laws of your God; and teach him who doesn’t know them.

Ezra 7:26 Whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it is to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

Ezra 7:27 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem;

Ezra 7:28 and has extended loving kindness to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. I was strengthened according to Yahweh my God’s hand on me, and I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go up with me.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "whoever", "king", "judgment", "executed", "diligence", "whether", "death", and "banishment". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "whoever" and "king", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 25's "You Ezra according to the wisdom of..." into verse 27's "Blessed be Yahweh the God of our...", so "whoever" and "king" 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 "whoever" and "king" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.