O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
O LORD God of Israel, you are righteous and just: we are still here as survivors, as we are today. Look, we stand before you in our sins and wrongdoings, because we cannot stand in your presence because of what we have done.
Ezra is confessing that even though God has been merciful in letting them survive as a remnant, they are still guilty of sin and cannot stand before God's holiness because of their wrongdoing.
📚 Historical Context
This is part of Ezra's prayer of confession after discovering that many Jewish men who returned from Babylonian exile had married foreign wives, which violated God's law. Ezra was devastated because the people had repeated the same kinds of sins that originally led to their exile. He is acknowledging God's past mercy in preserving a remnant while confessing their current unfaithfulness.
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