Ezra 10:15 (YLT)

Passage

Only Jonathan son of Asahel, and Jahaziah son of Tikvah, stood against this, and Meshullam, and Shabbethai the Levite, helped them.

Nearby Context

Ezra 10:13 but the people <FI>are<Fi> many, and <FI>it is<Fi> the time of showers, and there is no power to stand without, and the work <FI>is<Fi> not for one day, nor for two, for we have multiplied to transgress in this thing.

Ezra 10:14 `Let, we pray thee, our heads of all the assembly stand, and all who <FI>are<Fi> in our cities, who have settled strange wives, do come in at the times appointed, and with them the elders of city and city, and its judges, till the turning back of the fury of the wrath of our God from us, for this thing.'

Ezra 10:15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel, and Jahaziah son of Tikvah, stood against this, and Meshullam, and Shabbethai the Levite, helped them.

Ezra 10:16 And the sons of the removal do so, and Ezra the priest, <FI>and<Fi> men, heads of the fathers, for the house of their fathers, are separated, even all of them by name, and they sit on the first day of the tenth month, to examine the matter;

Ezra 10:17 and they finish with all the men who have settled strange women unto the first day of the first month.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "only", "jonathan", "asahel", "jahaziah", "tikvah", "stood", "against", and "meshullam". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "only" and "jonathan", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "Let we pray thee our heads of..." into verse 16's "And the sons of the removal do...", so "only" and "jonathan" 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 "only" and "jonathan" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.