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Ezra 9
Ezra 9:1
have not separated themselves
have married people from other lands and have adopted their religion
Ezra 9:2
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Ezra 9:3
When I heard this
When Ezra heard that many Israelites had married foreign women and were worshiping their gods
I tore apart my clothing and robe and pulled out hair from my head and beard
Ezra was showing everyone how unhappy he was that people were doing things that offended God. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit)
Ezra 9:4
evening offering
a sacrifice that the priests would offer around the time the sun was going down
Ezra 9:5
my position of humiliation
another way of saying he was "sitting ashamed" (Ezra 9:4). "where I was sitting on the ground to show how ashamed I was"
knelt down and spread my hands
"got on my knees and stretched out my arms with my hands open toward the sky"
Ezra 9:6
our iniquities increase over our head, and our guilt grows to the heavens
These words are two ways of speaking of iniquity and guilt as if they were physical objects that could grow to be larger than people. The abstract nouns "iniquity" and "guilt" can be expressed as a noun and an adjective, respectively. Alternate translation: "we have committed wicked deeds and we are very guilty" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-parallelism and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-abstractnouns)
Ezra 9:7
the days of our ancestors
"the time when our ancestors were alive"
in great guilt ... In our iniquities
The abstract nouns "guilt" and "iniquity" can be translated as an adjective and a verb, respectively. Alternate translation: "very guilty ... Because of the evil deeds we did" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-abstractnouns)
we ... were given into the hand of kings
This can be translated in active form. Alternate translation: "you gave us ... into the hand of kings" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-activepassive)
were given into the hand of kings of this world
Here "hand" represents power or control. Alternate translation: "were given into the control of the kings of this world" or "were given over to the kings of this world" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metonymy)
to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder and ashamed faces
The sword is a metonym for people killing other people. The abstract nouns "captivity" and "plunder" can be stated as verb phrases. And, "faces" is a synecdoche representing the whole person. Alternate translation: "to our enemies to kill us, to capture us, to steal from us, and to cause us shame" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metonymy and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-abstractnouns and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-synecdoche)
Ezra 9:8
mercy from Yahweh our God has come
God deciding to be merciful is spoken of as if mercy were a person who could move. Alternate translation: "Yahweh our God has decided to be merciful to us and" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)
Ezra 9:9
but has extended covenant faithfulness to us
The abstract noun "faithfulness" can be stated as "faithful" or "loyal." See how you translated a similar phrase in Ezra 7:28. Alternate translation: "but he as been faithful to us" or "he has been loyal to us" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-abstractnouns)
in the sight of the king of Persia
The king could not literally see the temple, but he did know about what was happening in Jerusalem. Here "sight" is a metonym for what a person knows. Alternate translation: "so that the king of Persia knows about it" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metonymy)
the house of our God
the temple
could give us a wall of safety
The wall that keeps people safe is a metaphor for Yahweh protecting his people. Alternate translation: "could keep us safe" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)
Ezra 9:10
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Ezra 9:11
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Ezra 9:12
for all time
"until the end of the ages"
Ezra 9:13
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Ezra 9:14
should we again break your commandments and make ... people?
This can be translated as a statement. Alternate translation: "it is very wrong that some of us have broken your commandments and made ... people." (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion)
Will you not be angry ... escape?
This can be translated as a statement. Alternate translation: "I am afraid that you will be angry ... escape." (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion)
Ezra 9:15
Look
"Pay attention to what I am about to say"
We are here before you in our guilt
"You can see that we are all guilty"
there is no one who can stand before you
"you do not think that any person is innocent"