Ezra 10:18-44
The Cost of Returning
Read the passage
18Among the descendants of the priests who had married foreign women were found these descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.
19They pledged to send their wives away, and for their guilt they presented a ram from the flock as a guilt offering.
20From the descendants of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.
21From the descendants of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.
22From the descendants of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
23Among the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
24From the singers: Eliashib. From the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.
25And among the other Israelites, from the descendants of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah.
26From the descendants of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.
27From the descendants of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza.
28From the descendants of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
29From the descendants of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth.
30From the descendants of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.
31From the descendants of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
32Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.
33From the descendants of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
34From the descendants of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel,
35Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,
36Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
37Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu.
38From the descendants of Binnui: Shimei,
39Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,
40Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
41Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,
42Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.
43And from the descendants of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah.
44All these men had married foreign women, and some of them had children by these wives.
Berean Standard Bible
Read aloud
Ezra ends with names. Priests are listed first, then Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and the other Israelites who had married foreign women. Some of the men pledge to send their wives away and present a ram as a guilt offering.
They pledged to send their wives away, and for their guilt they presented a ram from the flock as a guilt offering.
The list is not a victory parade. It is a record of people who must face what their choices have done to the community. Scripture does not hide the cost of reform, and it also does not give us enough information to pretend we know every family's private circumstances.
The final line says that some of the men had children by these wives. That detail should slow us down. The consequences reached spouses and children, not only the leaders who had failed. For Christian marriages, 1 Corinthians 7:12–13 gives explicit instruction: a believer must not divorce an unbelieving spouse who is willing to live with them. We cannot turn this account of Israel's crisis into a command to abandon spouses or children.
Ezra closes without a neat emotional resolution. The community has confessed and investigated, and the list records a pledge to send wives away. It does not tell us what happened afterward in each home. Returning to God means letting his holiness change the way a people lives.
Questions
1 Who appears in the final list?
AnswerThe final list names priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and other Israelites. Ezra closes by showing that the community's response involved identifiable people and responsibilities.
2 What did the priests from Jeshua's family pledge?
AnswerThey pledged to send their wives away and presented a ram as a guilt offering. The list then names other priests, Levites, and Israelites involved in these marriages.
3 Why should the final verse make us slow down?
AnswerThe final verse says that some men had children by these wives. That detail shows that decisions about covenant faithfulness reached real families and require careful, compassionate application rather than slogans.
4 What is the lasting movement of Ezra?
AnswerEzra's movement is from return and rebuilding to confession and costly obedience. Renewed faithfulness is not only a new beginning; it continues through difficult responsibilities.
What This Means for Us
Let the ending make you both serious and careful. The names in this list show that the problem reached into the leadership of the community, so repentance cannot be demanded only from people with less influence.
Sin has consequences beyond the person who commits it, but the answer is never contempt for a category of people. Pursue holiness with truth, protect those with less power, seek wise counsel, and make repair as concrete as repentance requires. Do not use a hard text to avoid examining the power you hold today.
Prayer
Holy God, make us willing to face the cost of our choices. Keep us from using Scripture to justify pride, cruelty, or ethnic contempt. Give us wisdom to pursue faithfulness, protect families, and walk humbly with you. Amen.