What Does Ezra 10:14 Mean?
Let now our princes of all the assembly stand, and let all who have taken foreign women in our cities come at the appointed times, and with them the elders of each city and its judges, until the burning of our God's anger over this word turns back from us.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The verse’s central motion is a turning: an ordered public process seeks to turn God’s burning anger away from the community.
THE MEANING
Here, those who have taken foreign wives are called to appear at appointed times with their city’s elders and judges, while the rulers stand with the congregation. The stated aim is that God’s fierce anger over this matter turn away from the community. The verse holds the crisis and its public process together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This is only a private matter for the households involved; the verse places the response before the rulers, congregation, city elders, and judges.
THE ROOT
לְהָשִׁיב
lehashiv
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
שׁוּב (shuv): to turn or return; in this form, to cause something to turn or bring it back.
“turns back from us” in this verse is lehashiv. The Hebrew frames the aim as causing the burning anger to turn away from the community. The root’s family carries turning in more than one direction: תְּשׁוּבָה names a return, while מְשׁוּבָה names a turning away or backsliding.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: return, turning
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch names a change of direction toward return; here, the shared root presents anger as turning away from the community.
meshuvah: turning away, backsliding
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch uses the same root for a turning off course, showing how the root’s core image is a change of direction.
THE PATTERN
A community facing rupture brings the matter before appointed leaders so it can be considered through a shared process.
Then both men, between whom the strife is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days;And the sent ones and elders came together to perceive about this word.THE THREAD
Why should the Egyptians speak and say, For harm did he bring them out, to have them struck down in the mountains and to finish them from the face of the ground? Turn back from the burning of your anger, and relent from this harm against your people.The appeal uses שׁוּב (shuv, turn or return) alongside חֲרוֹן אַף (charon af, burning anger), echoing the root and phrase in Ezra. The shared wording makes the turning away of anger the central movement in both verses.
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