Ezra 10:3
New International Version
Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.

New Living Translation
Let us now make a covenant with our God to divorce our pagan wives and to send them away with their children. We will follow the advice given by you and by the others who respect the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law of God.

English Standard Version
Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law.

Berean Standard Bible
So now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.

King James Bible
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

New King James Version
Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

New American Standard Bible
So now let’s make a covenant with our God to send away all the wives and their children, following the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the Law.

NASB 1995
“So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

NASB 1977
“So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

Legacy Standard Bible
So now let us cut a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

Amplified Bible
Therefore let us now make a covenant with our God to send away all the [foreign] wives and their children, in accordance with the advice of my lord and of those who tremble [in reverent obedience] at the commandment of our God; and let it be done in accordance with the Law.

Christian Standard Bible
Therefore, let’s make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Let us therefore make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

American Standard Version
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And now we will speak an oath before our God, to cast out all foreign women and those who were born of them, and according to the counsel of LORD JEHOVAH, and those who are in awe of the law of our God, act and be strong!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Now then let us make a covenant with our God, to put away all the wives, and their offspring, as thou shalt advise:

Contemporary English Version
if we follow your advice and the advice of others who truly respect the laws of God. We must promise God that we will divorce our foreign wives and send them away, together with their children.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Let us make a covenant with the Lord our God, to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the will of the Lord, and of them that fear the commandment of the Lord our God: let it be done according to the law.

English Revised Version
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So we must now make a promise to our God to get rid of all foreign women and the children born from them, as my lord [Ezra] and the others who tremble at the commandments of our God have advised us to do. We must do what Moses' Teachings tell us.

Good News Translation
Now we must make a solemn promise to our God that we will send these women and their children away. We will do what you and the others who honor God's commands advise us to do. We will do what God's Law demands.

International Standard Version
So let's make a promise to our God by which we divorce all of these foreign wives—as well as those born to them—in accordance with the counsel of our Lord and of those who tremble at our God's command. Furthermore, let it be done according to the Law.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of the LORD, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

Literal Standard Version
and now, let us make a covenant with our God, to cause all the women to go out, and that which is born of them, by the counsel of the Lord, and of those trembling at the command of our God, and according to law it is done;

Majority Standard Bible
So now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.

New American Bible
Let us therefore enter into a covenant before our God to dismiss all our foreign wives and the children born of them, in keeping with what you, my lord, advise, and those who are in dread of the commandments of our God. Let it be done according to the law!

NET Bible
Therefore let us enact a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, and that of those who respect the commandments of our God. And let it be done according to the law.

New Revised Standard Version
So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

New Heart English Bible
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

World English Bible
Now therefore let’s make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and those who are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

Young's Literal Translation
and now, let us make a covenant with our God, to cause all the women to go out, and that which is born of them, by the counsel of the Lord, and of those trembling at the command of our God, and according to law it is done;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Shecaniah's Encouragement
2Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, an Elamite, said to Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the people of the land, yet in spite of this, there is hope for Israel. 3So now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all the foreign wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the command of our God. Let it be done according to the Law. 4Get up, for this matter is your responsibility, and we will support you. Be strong and take action!”…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 7:2
and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

Deuteronomy 7:3
Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

2 Chronicles 34:31
So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book.

Ezra 9:4
Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat there in horror until the evening offering.

Ezra 10:9
So within the three days, all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled in Jerusalem, and on the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the people sat in the square at the house of God, trembling regarding this matter and because of the heavy rain.

Ezra 10:11
Now, therefore, make a confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do His will. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from your foreign wives."

Ezra 10:44
All these men had married foreign women, and some of them had children by these wives.


Treasury of Scripture

Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

let us make.

Deuteronomy 29:12
That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day:

Joshua 9:6
And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us.

2 Kings 11:17
And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD'S people; between the king also and the people.

put away.

2 Chronicles 30:12
Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.

of those that

Ezra 9:4
Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.

2 Chronicles 34:21,27
Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book…

Psalm 119:59,120
I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies…

at the commandment

Deuteronomy 7:2,3
And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: …

Joshua 23:12,13
Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: …

let it

Nehemiah 8:14
And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:

Nehemiah 13:1-3
On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; …

Isaiah 8:20
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Jump to Previous
Born Children Commandment Counsel Covenant Law Tremble Wives
Jump to Next
Born Children Commandment Counsel Covenant Law Tremble Wives
Ezra 10
1. Ezra encouraged to reform the strange marriages
6. Ezra assembles the people
9. The people repent, and promise amendment
15. The care to perform it
18. The names of them which had married strange wives














Verse 3. - Now therefore let us make a covenant. Shechaniah had probably in his thoughts the (comparatively) recent covenant which the people had made in the reign of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:15) on the subject of releasing their Hebrew slaves after six years of servitude. That covenant was entered into before God, in the temple, by the princes and all the people (ibid. ver. 10). To put away all the wives. Shechaniah probably held that marriages made contrary to the law were not merely wrongful, but invalid. At any rate, since the law of Moses, as interpreted by the Rabbis, allowed divorce "for every cause" (Matthew 19:3), the remedy suggested was feasible, though scarcely one which the civil power could enforce. And such as are born of them. "Filii matrem sequuntur" was a maxim of Roman, and, apparently, also of Jewish law. Young children require especially a mother's care. Older ones might be already tainted with idolatry. It was best, Shechaniah thought, to make a clean sweep, and dismiss the children as well as the mothers. According to the counsel of my lord. Ezra had not yet advised any course; but Shechaniah gathers from the horror which he has expressed what his wishes must be. Let it be done according to the law. Either, "Let the law, which forbids these marriages, be in this way satisfied" (Dathe); or, "Let the repudiation of the wives take place in the mode prescribed by the law" (see Deuteronomy 24:1).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So now
וְעַתָּ֣ה (wə·‘at·tāh)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 6258: At this time

let us make
נִֽכְרָת־ (niḵ·rāṯ-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common plural
Strong's 3772: To cut, to destroy, consume, to covenant

a covenant
בְּרִ֣ית (bə·rîṯ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1285: A covenant

before our God
לֵ֠אלֹהֵינוּ (lê·lō·hê·nū)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

to send away
לְהוֹצִ֨יא (lə·hō·w·ṣî)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Strong's 3318: To go, bring, out, direct and proxim

all
כָל־ (ḵāl)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

the foreign wives
נָשִׁ֜ים (nā·šîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

and their children,
וְהַנּוֹלָ֤ד (wə·han·nō·w·lāḏ)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 3205: To bear young, to beget, medically, to act as midwife, to show lineage

according to the counsel
בַּעֲצַ֣ת (ba·‘ă·ṣaṯ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 6098: Advice, plan, prudence

of my lord
אֲדֹנָ֔י (’ă·ḏō·nāy)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 113: Sovereign, controller

and of those who tremble
וְהַחֲרֵדִ֖ים (wə·ha·ḥă·rê·ḏîm)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 2730: Fearful, reverential

at the command
בְּמִצְוַ֣ת (bə·miṣ·waṯ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 4687: Commandment

of our God.
אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ (’ĕ·lō·hê·nū)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

Let it be done
יֵעָשֶֽׂה׃ (yê·‘ā·śeh)
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

according to the Law.
וְכַתּוֹרָ֖ה (wə·ḵat·tō·w·rāh)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8451: Direction, instruction, law


Links
Ezra 10:3 NIV
Ezra 10:3 NLT
Ezra 10:3 ESV
Ezra 10:3 NASB
Ezra 10:3 KJV

Ezra 10:3 BibleApps.com
Ezra 10:3 Biblia Paralela
Ezra 10:3 Chinese Bible
Ezra 10:3 French Bible
Ezra 10:3 Catholic Bible

OT History: Ezra 10:3 Now therefore let us make a covenant (Ezr. Ez)
Ezra 10:2
Top of Page
Top of Page