Ezra 9:10

THE MESSAGE

"And now, our God, after all this what can we say for ourselves? For we have thrown your commands to the wind, the commands you gave us through your servants the prophets. They told us, ‘The land you're taking over is a polluted land, polluted with the obscene vulgarities of the people who live there; they've filled it with their moral rot from one end to the other. Whatever you do, don't give your daughters in marriage to their sons nor marry your sons to their daughters. Don't cultivate their good opinion; don't make over them and get them to like you so you can make a lot of money and build up a tidy estate to hand down to your children.'

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Now, our God, what can we say in light of this? For we have abandoned the commands

Hebrew Names Version
Now, our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken your mitzvot,

King James Version
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

English Standard Version
"And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,

New Century Version
"But now, our God, what can we say after you have done all this? We have disobeyed your commands

New English Translation
"And now what are we able to say after this, our God? For we have forsaken your commandments

Amplified Bible
"Now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have abandoned (turned away from) Your commandments,

New American Standard Bible
"And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have abandoned Your commandments,

World English Bible
Now, our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken your commandments,

Geneva Bible (1587)
And nowe, our God, what shal we say after this? for we haue forsaken thy commandements,

Legacy Standard Bible
"So now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

Berean Standard Bible
And now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken the commandments

Contemporary English Version
Our God, what can we say now? Even after all this, we have disobeyed the commands

Complete Jewish Bible
"But now, our God, what are we to say after this? For we have abandoned your mitzvot,

Darby Translation
And now, what shall we say, our God, after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

Easy-to-Read Version
"Now, God, what can we say to you? We have stopped obeying you again.

George Lamsa Translation
And now, O our God, what shall we say after all these things? For we have forsaken thy commandments

Good News Translation
"But now, O God, what can we say after all that has happened? We have again disobeyed the commands

Lexham English Bible
"And now our God what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,

Literal Translation
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O oure God, what shall we saye now after this? that we haue forsaken thy commaundementes,

American Standard Version
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

Bible in Basic English
And now, O our God, what are we to say after this? for we have not kept your laws,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And nowe O our God, what shall we say after this? for we haue forsaken thy commaundementes,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken Thy commandments,

King James Version (1611)
And now, O our God, what shal we say after this? for we haue forsaken thy commandements,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
What shall we say, our God, after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

English Revised Version
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And now, `oure Lord God, what schulen we seie after these thingis? For we han forsake thi comaundementis,

Update Bible Version
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken your commandments,

Webster's Bible Translation
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

New King James Version
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

New Living Translation
"And now, O our God, what can we say after all of this? For once again we have abandoned your commands!

New Life Bible
And now, our God, what should we say after this? For we have turned away from Your Laws,

New Revised Standard
"And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, now, what can we say, O our God, after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

Revised Standard Version
"And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken thy commandments,

Young's Literal Translation
`And now, what do we say, O our God, after this? for we have forsaken Thy commands,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

Contextual Overview

⁷Ezra Prays: "Look at Us... Guilty Before You" After all this was done, the leaders came to me and said, "The People of Israel, priests and Levites included, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring people around here with all their vulgar obscenities—Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, Amorites. They have given some of their daughters in marriage to them and have taken some of their daughters for marriage to their sons. The holy seed is now all mixed in with these other peoples. And our leaders have led the way in this betrayal." When I heard all this, I ripped my clothes and my cape; I pulled hair from my head and out of my beard; I slumped to the ground, appalled. Many were in fear and trembling because of what God was saying about the betrayal by the exiles. They gathered around me as I sat there in despair, waiting for the evening sacrifice. At the evening sacrifice I picked myself up from my utter devastation, and in my ripped clothes and cape fell to my knees and stretched out my hands to God , my God. And I prayed: "My dear God, I'm so totally ashamed, I can't bear to face you. O my God—our iniquities are piled up so high that we can't see out; our guilt touches the skies. We've been stuck in a muck of guilt since the time of our ancestors until right now; we and our kings and priests, because of our sins, have been turned over to foreign kings, to killing, to captivity, to looting, and to public shame—just as you see us now. ⁸"Now for a brief time God , our God, has allowed us, this battered band, to get a firm foothold in his holy place so that our God may brighten our eyes and lighten our burdens as we serve out this hard sentence. We were slaves; yet even as slaves, our God didn't abandon us. He has put us in the good graces of the kings of Persia and given us the heart to build The Temple of our God, restore its ruins, and construct a defensive wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁰"And now, our God, after all this what can we say for ourselves? For we have thrown your commands to the wind, the commands you gave us through your servants the prophets. They told us, ‘The land you're taking over is a polluted land, polluted with the obscene vulgarities of the people who live there; they've filled it with their moral rot from one end to the other. Whatever you do, don't give your daughters in marriage to their sons nor marry your sons to their daughters. Don't cultivate their good opinion; don't make over them and get them to like you so you can make a lot of money and build up a tidy estate to hand down to your children.' ¹³"And now this, on top of all we've already suffered because of our evil ways and accumulated guilt, even though you, dear God, punished us far less than we deserved and even went ahead and gave us this present escape. Yet here we are, at it again, breaking your commandments by intermarrying with the people who practice all these obscenities! Are you angry to the point of wiping us out completely, without even a few stragglers, with no way out at all? You are the righteous God of Israel. We are, right now, a small band of escapees. Look at us, openly standing here, guilty before you. No one can last long like this."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

what shall we say: Genesis 44:16, Joshua 7:8, Lamentations 3:22, Daniel 9:4-16, Romans 3:19

Reciprocal: Judges 2:2 - but ye have 2 Kings 21:9 - they hearkened Isaiah 38:15 - What Jeremiah 9:13 - General Daniel 9:10 - which

Cross-References

Genesis 8:1
Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over.

Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You're responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don't eat that.

Genesis 9:5
"But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.

Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds human blood, by humans let his blood be shed, Because God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature. You're here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!"

Psalms 145:9
God is good to one and all; everything he does is suffused with grace.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And now, O our God, what shall we say after this?.... What apology or excuse can be made for such ingratitude? what can be said in favour of such a people? what kindness can be expected to be shown to a people who had behaved in so base a manner?

for we have forsaken thy commandments: particularly those which related to marriages with people of other nations.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezra 9:10. What shall we say after this? — Even in the midst of these beginnings of respite and mercy we have begun to provoke thee anew!