What Does Ezra 10:13 Mean in the King James?
But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
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 links the many people to a multiplied rebellion: the language of increase makes the scale of the breach audible.
THE MEANING
A shared breach involving many people is difficult work, especially when the conditions make it impossible to stand outside. The verse says plainly that the work takes more than a day or two, and that many have rebelled in this matter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that naming a collective breach means it can be settled quickly; the verse says the work takes time.
THE ROOT
לִפְשֹׁעַ
lifshoa
GROWS FROM
פשע
To rebel, break away.
The verb beneath “transgressed” names rebellion, a rupture, not a vague mistake. The confession is collective: “we” have rebelled in this matter.
ALSO GROWS
peshaʿ: Rebellion, transgression.
פֶּשַׁע
The noun names the kind of rupture carried by the verb in this verse.
posheʿim: Rebels, transgressors.
פֹּשְׁעִים
This plural form makes the people who break away visible, echoing the verse’s collective confession.
הִרְבֵּינוּ
hirbeinu
GROWS FROM
רבה
To increase, become many.
“greatly / multiplied” in this verse is hirbeinu. The Hebrew says, in effect, “we have greatly increased to rebel.” Its r-b sound echoes the phrase “the people are many,” tying the size of the group to the scale of the breach without making the two phrases identical.
ALSO GROWS
hirbah: Increased, multiplied.
הִרְבָּה
This form shows the root’s sense of growth and abundance within the verb used here.
harbeh: Much, many, greatly.
הַרְבֵּה
This form carries the same sense of abundance, making the verse’s repeated emphasis on scale easier to hear.
THE PATTERN
A breach involving a community calls for shared work whose scale and duration remain visible.
So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.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
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.“Transgressions” here comes from the same root, פשע (pashaʿ), meaning rebellion or breaking away. Ezra’s collective “we” and Isaiah’s “our” place the breach in shared language; Isaiah then sets it beside wounding and healing.
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