Ezra 9:3 (YLT)

Passage

And at my hearing this word, I have rent my garment and my upper robe, and pluck out of the hair of my head, and of my beard, and sit astonished,

Nearby Context

Ezra 9:1 And at the completion of these things, drawn nigh unto me have the heads, saying, `The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not been separated from the peoples of the lands, as to their abominations, even the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, the Ammonite, the Moabite, the Egyptian, and the Amorite,

Ezra 9:2 for they have taken of their daughters to them, and to their sons, and the holy seed have mingled themselves among the peoples of the lands, and the hand of the heads and of the seconds have been first in this trespass.'

Ezra 9:3 And at my hearing this word, I have rent my garment and my upper robe, and pluck out of the hair of my head, and of my beard, and sit astonished,

Ezra 9:4 and unto me are gathered every one trembling at the words of the God of Israel, because of the trespass of the removal, and I am sitting astonished till the present of the evening.

Ezra 9:5 And at the present of the evening I have risen from mine affliction, and at my rending my garment and my upper robe, then I bow down on my knees, and spread out my hands unto Jehovah my God,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hearing", "word", "rent", "garment", "upper", "robe", "pluck", and "hair". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hearing" and "word", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "for they have taken of their daughters..." into verse 4's "and unto me are gathered every one...", so "hearing" and "word" 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 "hearing" and "word" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.