What Does Ezra 10:18 Mean?

And among the sons of the priests there were found who had taken foreign women, of the sons of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

Ezra 10:18 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

THE KEY

The word translated “strange” shares its Hebrew root with “recognize,” so the verse’s boundary is about who is marked as other.

THE MEANING

You see this breach located in a specific priestly family: four named men are among those found with foreign wives, and their father is Jeshua. The wording holds foreignness beside dwelling, the women are described as foreign, and the men as having settled them in household life.

THE ROOT

נָכְרִיּוֹת

nokhriyyot

GROWS FROM

נכר

n-k-r

Recognize or mark as distinct; in other forms, be or act as a stranger.

“foreign women” in this verse is nokhriyyot. This root holds “recognize” beside “stranger”: in one form someone is identified, in another someone presents as foreign. English “strange” can sound like merely unusual, while here the word marks foreignness within a family.

ALSO GROWS

nokhri: Foreigner, stranger

נָכְרִי

This is the singular form behind the verse’s description of the wives as strange.

hitnaker: Act as a stranger, make oneself strange

הִתְנַכֵּר

Genesis 42:7 uses this form for Joseph’s deliberate strangeness toward brothers he recognizes.

hikkir: Recognize, identify

הִכִּיר

This branch makes the root’s link between foreignness and recognition visible.

הֹשִׁיבוּ

hoshivu

GROWS FROM

ישב

y-sh-b

Sit, dwell, remain; in this form, cause to dwell or settle.

The verb translated “taken” carries the sense of making these women dwell or settle. The wording reaches beyond the choice of a spouse to the place these marriages now occupy in the household.

ALSO GROWS

yashav: Sit, dwell, remain

יָשַׁב

This is the basic action beneath the verse’s causative verb.

moshav: Dwelling, settlement, seat

מוֹשָׁב

This noun shows how the root extends from dwelling to an established place.

hoshiv: Cause to sit or dwell, settle

הוֹשִׁיב

This form gives the verse’s “taken” the added sense of establishing someone in a dwelling.

יֵשׁוּעַ

Yeshua

GROWS FROM

ישע

y-sh-ʿ

Deliver or bring out of constriction into spaciousness.

Jeshua’s name carries the meaning of deliverance, from the root for delivering or bringing out. The verse places these named sons within that lineage while plainly recording the breach associated with them.

ALSO GROWS

yasha: Deliver, rescue

יָשַׁע

This verb is the root action carried in Jeshua’s name.

yeshuah: Deliverance

יְשׁוּעָה

This noun gives the name’s root meaning in a form that names the act itself.

hoshia: Delivered, rescued

הוֹשִׁיעַ

This form shows the root as deliverance received.

THE PATTERN

What is hidden within a community becomes visible, giving a formerly general breach a concrete shape.

But the children of Israel broke trust with the devoted thing, for Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from the devoted thing, and the burning of the LORD's anger flared against the children of Israel.

Joshua 7:1 · SDVIsrael’s collective trespass is attached to Achan by name and lineage, making a community breach concrete.

For there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be known.

Luke 12:2 · SDVCovered and hidden things come into view, matching the movement from an unnamed charge to identified men.

The falling short of some people is in plain sight beforehand, going ahead into judgment; and for others it follows after.

1 Timothy 5:24 · SDVSome actions are already visible while others follow later, so concealment does not settle what will ultimately be seen.

THE THREAD

And Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but he made himself a stranger to them and spoke hard words to them. And he said to them, From where have you come? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to buy food.

Genesis 42:7 · SDV

Ezra’s ⁨נָכְרִיּוֹת⁩ (nokhriyyot, foreign women) and Joseph’s ⁨וַיִּתְנַכֵּר⁩ (vayyitnaker, made himself a stranger) come from ⁨נכר⁩ (n-k-r, recognize or mark as distinct). Genesis holds the root’s two sides together: Joseph knows his brothers while acting toward them as a stranger, giving Ezra’s label the same relational edge.

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