What Does Ezra 10:19 Mean in the King James?
And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.
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
One Hebrew root names both their guilt and the offering for it, while the wives’ removal remains plainly beside that ritual act.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a pledge, the putting away of wives, and a ram offered for guilt in one frame. In Hebrew, the same root names their guilty state and the guilt for which the ram is offered. The act of sending their wives away remains beside the offering, unabsorbed by it.
THE ROOT
אֲשֵׁמִים
ʾăšēmîm
GROWS FROM
א־ש־ם
ʾ-sh-m
To incur guilt or be liable; as a noun, guilt or a guilt offering.
“guilty / trespass” in this verse is ʾăšēmîm. The root appears in both “being guilty” and “their trespass,” then also names the guilt offering associated with the ram. Liability and its ritual response share one seed, while the wives’ removal remains explicit in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāšēm: To be guilty or liable.
אָשֵׁם
This is the form behind “being guilty,” naming their condition directly.
ʾāšām: Guilt; also a guilt offering.
אָשָׁם
This branch links the guilt named in the verse with the ram offered on its account.
THE PATTERN
Guilt reaches beyond its ritual response to the wrong that remains in view.
And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.THE THREAD
If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:Ezra’s “guilty” and “trespass” come from א־ש־ם (ʾ-sh-m), the same root behind Leviticus’s “trespass offering.” Leviticus makes the ram’s ritual role explicit; Ezra places that offering beside the act of sending the wives away, leaving its human cost visible.
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