Ezra 10:44
What does Ezra 10:44 mean?
A plain-English look at Ezra 10:44 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Ezra 10:44 means
The final sentence summarizes: all these had taken foreign wives; some had wives who bore children. This cements the full scope and the deep pain of the remedy. The text does not gloss over the human cost, but it maintains that obedience to God’s commands was necessary to preserve Israel’s distinct covenant calling. By concluding here, the chapter leaves readers with a sober sense that repentance may require costly, structured change. Yet such obedience, though painful, aims at renewed fellowship with God and the protection of the community from spiritual drift that had, in Israel’s history, led to greater ruin.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000All these had taken foreign wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
KJV
King James Version · 1611All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901All these had taken foreign wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949All these had taken strange wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had offspring.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862all these have taken strange women, and there are of them women--who adopt sons.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752All these had taken strange wives, and there were among them women that had borne children.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890All these had taken foreign wives; and there were among them wives who had had children.
Context
After pages of names, this concise summary ties the narrative together. It recalls the earlier assembly, Ezra’s charge, the people’s consent, the structured commission, and the months-long process. The mention of children underscores why a measured procedure was essential. The chapter closes without embellishment, fitting its administrative, reforming character. It prepares readers to appreciate the community’s restored boundaries as they continue life in the land under God’s law, awaiting further developments in Israel’s post-exilic story.
v.43Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah.
v.44This passage
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Ezra 10:3
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.
- Proverbs 2:16
To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;
- Proverbs 5:20
For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
- Proverbs 5:3
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil: