What Does Ezra 10:2 Mean in the King James?
And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning 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 root behind “hope” also forms the word for Rahab’s scarlet cord, so hope here is a tether across the breach rather than a denial of it.
THE MEANING
The verse names the taking of foreign wives as a trespass against God without minimizing it. At that same moment, hope remains present in Israel concerning the very thing named. A real breach does not have to define the whole future.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that admitting a failure leaves only condemnation: the admission and a possible future stand together.
THE ROOT
מִקְוֶה
miqveh
GROWS FROM
קוה
wait for, look toward, hope
The word here, מִקְוֶה (miqveh, hope), comes from קָוָה (qavah, to wait for or look toward). A related form, תִּקְוָה (tiqvah, hope or cord), is used for the scarlet line in Joshua 2:18, letting hope carry the image of something that holds across danger without erasing the breach.
ALSO GROWS
qavah: To wait for, expect, or hope.
קָוָה
Its forward-looking sense makes hope an orientation toward what remains possible.
tiqvah: Hope or expectation; also a cord or line in Joshua 2:18.
תִּקְוָה
The cord usage gives hope a tangible image: a line that holds through danger.
miqveh: Hope or expectation.
מִקְוֶה
This is the form Ezra uses: hope concerning the very matter just named as a breach.
מָעַלְנוּ
ma'alnu
GROWS FROM
מעל
act treacherously, deal unfaithfully
The form מָעַלְנוּ (ma’alnu, “we have trespassed”) makes the confession collective and direct: “we have acted unfaithfully.” Hope is placed beside a fully named betrayal, not used to make it seem harmless.
ALSO GROWS
ma'al: To act treacherously or deal unfaithfully.
מָעַל
This verbal sense makes the confession more than a vague admission of error.
ma'al: A trespass or act of unfaithfulness.
מַעַל
The noun names the breach plainly, keeping the hope in this verse from becoming denial.
THE PATTERN
Hope keeps a future open while loss or breach is named plainly.
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.THE THREAD
Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.Joshua’s תִּקְוַת (tiqvat, line or cord) shares the קוה (qavah, wait or hope) root family with Ezra’s מִקְוֶה (miqveh, hope). In Joshua it is a physical scarlet cord marking a household for deliverance, giving Ezra’s hope a tangible shape: a line that holds across danger.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us