What Does Ezra 10:1 Mean in the King James?
Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew root that voices confession also branches into praise and thanksgiving, making acknowledgment the shared act even when the truth being named is painful.
THE MEANING
Confession here is exposed: Ezra’s prayer takes the shape of tears and a body cast down before the house of God. The sorrow does not stay with him; men, women, and children gather, and the whole people weep greatly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that confession is only an inward act between one person and God: Ezra’s grief is visible, and a whole community gathers into that sorrow.
THE ROOT
יָדָה
yādâ
GROWS FROM
ידה
Acknowledge or confess; the same root also carries the sense of giving thanks and praise.
“confessed” in this verse is yādâ. The same Hebrew word family can voice confession, thanksgiving, or praise; the thing being acknowledged changes, but the act of acknowledgment remains. Here, that acknowledgment names grief and wrongdoing without turning them into praise.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving, praise, or confession
תּוֹדָה
This related word shows the root’s reach into spoken gratitude as well as confession; in Ezra, what is acknowledged is painful.
Yehudah: Judah; Genesis 29:35 links the name to “I will praise”
יְהוּדָה
The name carries the same root into a personal name, showing that the confession and praise words belong to one Hebrew family.
עֶזְרָא
ʿEzrāʾ
GROWS FROM
עזר
Help, support, or come to someone’s aid.
Ezra’s name carries the sense of help, and the verse places him at the center of a scene where a whole people gather and share their sorrow. The name’s meaning sits alongside the grief without erasing it.
ALSO GROWS
ezer: Help or aid
עֵזֶר
This related noun carries the sense embedded in Ezra’s name.
azar: To help or come to someone’s aid
עָזַר
This verb shares the name’s root, tying Ezra’s name to the act of helping.
THE PATTERN
When wrongdoing is acknowledged aloud, what was concealed can become shared truth.
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.THE THREAD
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.The Hebrew verb behind “I will confess” belongs to the same yādâ root family as Ezra’s “confessed,” and the psalm pairs it with “mine iniquity have I not hid.” That shared language reveals confession as acknowledgment brought into the open; the psalm names forgiveness, while Ezra’s verse shows sorrow spreading through a whole gathering.
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