Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.
Let our leaders represent the whole community, and let everyone in our cities who has married foreign wives come at scheduled times, along with the elders and judges from each city, until God's fierce anger about this issue is no longer directed at us.
The writer is proposing an organized process where men who married foreign wives would come before community leaders at set times to address the situation and turn away God's anger.
📚 Historical Context
This verse comes during Ezra's reforms after the Jewish people returned from Babylonian exile around 458 BC. Many Jewish men had married women from surrounding pagan nations, which violated God's law and threatened to lead Israel back into idolatry. Ezra was implementing a systematic approach to address these marriages that violated the covenant.
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