Ezra 9:15

Ezr 9:15 O LORD God of Israel, thou [art] righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as [it is] this day: behold, we [are] before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

Ver. 15. O Lord God of Israel] So called, because he is their portion, they his, Deu 32:9. He had avouched them for his; and they him interchangeably, Deu 26:17-18. Seneca could say that the basest people (meaning the Jews) gave laws unto all the world; that is, had the true God, creator of all, for their God.

Thou art righteous] In all thy judgments inflicted upon us; or, thou art faithful and true in thy promises: but we have forfeited thy favour, and deserved destruction.

Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses] Or guiltiness, which is that iniquity of sin (as David calleth it, Psa 32:5) whereby the sinner is bound over to condign punishment.

For we cannot stand before thee] But must needs causa cadere, drop our case, being self-condemned; and such as must needs subscribe to thy perfect justice in our own utter destruction.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ezr 9:15. O Lord, thou art righteous — A just and holy God, who hatest, and wilt infallibly punish, sin and sinners. Or, thou art merciful, for the Hebrew word here rendered righteous, often signifies merciful. Notwithstanding all our sins, thou hast not utterly destroyed us, but left us a remnant; for we remain yet escaped — Not entirely destroyed, not punished as we deserved. Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses — We are here in thy presence, and so are all our sins; we are arraigning ourselves before thy tribunal, acknowledging thee to be just if thou destroy us. For we cannot stand before thee — In judgment, as that word is often used; we must needs fall and perish at thy presence.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:15 you are just: God’s anger with sin is based on his justice and holiness.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He showeth that God is just in punishing his people, and yet merciful in reserving a residue in whom he showeth favor.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 15. Thou art righteous] Thou art merciful; this is one of the many meanings of the word צדק tsedek; and to this meaning St. Paul refers, when he says, God declares his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, Ro 3:25. See the note there.

We remain yet escaped] Because of this righteousness or mercy.

In our trespasses] We have no righteousness; we are clothed and covered with our trespasses.

We cannot stand before thee because of this.] The parallel place, as noted in the margin, is Ps 130:3: If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Every man must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ: but who shall stand there with joy? No man against whom the Lord marks iniquities. There is a reference here to the temple service: the priests and Levites stood and ministered before the Lord, but they were not permitted to do so unless pure from all legal pollution; so no man shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ who is not washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Reader, how dost thou expect to stand there?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. The prayer ends in expression of complete surrender. There is no excuse to plead. The nation stands in its sin in the presence of the perfect God, and awaits the sentence of ‘righteousness’.

O Lord God of Israel] R.V. O LORD, the God of Israel. See on Ezr_1:3. The prayer had begun ‘O my God’ (Ezr_9:6). It ends, O Lord the God of Israel. The thought of his nation overmastered the supplicant.

thou art righteous] This must not be softened down as if it were ‘thou art gracious’. The words are an acknowledgement of the perfect justice of God’s dealings with Israel in the past. The next sentence ‘for we are left a remnant’ is not uttered in gratitude for the mercy which spared ‘a remnant’, but is added to express the greatness of the catastrophe, which had carried off the whole nation except ‘a remnant’. And yet the visitation had been just. The prayer of Ezra (?) in Nehemiah 9 has a very similar phrase, Neh_9:33 ‘Howbeit thou art just (çaddîq) in all that is come upon us; for thou hast done truly, but we have done wickedly’. Thou art righteous (çaddîq), and we who are left ‘a remnant’ have failed to profit by the righteous judgement of the past. God is called ‘righteous’ in reference to the ‘fixed and unalterable rule of truth and goodness’. Cf. Neh_9:8; 2Ch_12:6; Psa_119:137; Psa_129:4; Psa_145:7. (See Cheyne on Psa_7:17.)

as it is this day] Cf. Ezr_9:7.

we are before thee] i.e. arraigned as it were before thy judgement seat. Ezra was praying ‘before the house of God’ (Ezr_10:2).

in our trespasses] R.V. in our guiltiness. See on Ezr_9:7. Fresh guilt has been added to the old. There is nothing to plead in extenuation. Nor had there been in the past. Righteous as Jehovah was, He had granted ‘a remnant’: now the guiltiness of the remnant seemed to merit its extinction.

for we cannot stand before thee because of this] R.V. for none can stand before thee because of this. None, for all Israelites, innocent as well as guilty, are bound up together in that responsibility for the nation’s guilt. Cf. Psa_76:7 ‘And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?’ Psa_130:3 ‘If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?’ Nah_1:6 ‘Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?’ The Spirit alone gives the power to ‘stand before’ God and to hear His word. Eze_2:1-2.

because of this] See note on Ezr_8:23, Ezr_10:2 : i.e. on account of this last sin, in which the people have once more offended their God.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous,.... And would appear to be so, should Israel be entirely cut off, and utterly consumed for their iniquities:

for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day; that they remained yet escaped out of captivity, and escaped the wrath and vengeance of God, was not owing to any deserts of theirs, but to the grace and mercy of God, who had not stirred up all his wrath, as their sins deserved:

behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; to do with us as seems good in thy sight; we have nothing to plead on our behalf, but cast ourselves at thy feet, if so be unmerited favour may be shown us:

for we cannot stand before thee because of this; this evil of contracting affinity with the nations; we cannot defend ourselves; we cannot plead ignorance of the divine commands; we have nothing to say for ourselves why judgment should not be passed upon us; we leave ourselves in thine hands, and at thy mercy.

Next: Ezra Chapter 10

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Some take “righteous” to mean here “kind” or “merciful.” Others give it the more usual sense of “just,” and understand the full meaning of the passage to be, “Thou art righteous, and hast punished us, because of our sin, the contraction of forbidden marriages, so that we are a mere remnant of what was once a great people.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To be saved from our iniquities, which are still upon us. (Haydock) --- We confess that, if we should be treated according to our deserts, we could expect no redress. But we trust in thy mercies, which have hitherto supported and brought us back from slavery. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou art righteous; a just and holy God, who dost hate, and wilt infallibly punish, sin and sinners. Or, thou art merciful, as appears from hence, that notwithstanding all our sins, thou hast not utterly destroyed us, but left a remnant of us. The Hebrew word here rendered righteous, is oft used for merciful; as is well known to all the learned.

For we remain yet escaped; or, though we remain, &c., i.e. though thou hast yet spared us in part, yet thou art righteous, and therefore wilt certainly punish and destroy us according to our deserts, if we do not repent us, and reform this great wickedness.

We are before thee in our trespasses; we are here in thy presence, and so are all our sins; we are arraigning ourselves before thy tribunal, acknowledging ourselves to be vile offenders, and thee to be just, if thou destroy us.

We cannot stand before thee, to wit, in judgment, as that word is oft used, as Psa 130:3; compare Psa 1:5; we must needs fall and perish at thy presence, as the phrase is, Psa 9:3. Because of this; because of this our great guilt, and the aggravations of it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. In our trespasses — Thus he leaves the case with his God, who is eminently righteous. But he does not venture to ask pardon for Israel’s enormous trespasses. It will not do to pray for that until Israel ceases to do evil.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped. Righteousness, in its widest sense, includes mercy; and so the meaning here may be, "Thou art good and gracious; of which thy having spared us is a proof;" or tsaddik may have its more usual sense of "just," and Ezra may mean to say, "Thou art just, and therefore hast brought us to the low estate in which we are to-day, and made us a mere remnant." We are before thee in our trespasses. We are here, in thy presence; here, before thy holy place; (Act_10:1) sinners, with all our sins upon us, confessing our guilt; for we cannot stand before thee we cannot boldly stand up and face thee ("Who shall, stand in thy sight when Thou art angry?, Psa_76:7) because of this our heinous transgression, for which there is no excuse.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We are - We are here in thy presence, and so are all our sins; we are arraigning ourselves before thy tribunal, acknowledging thee to be just, if thou destroy us. Before thee - In judgment, as that word is often used, we must needs fall and perish at thy presence.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Look

"Pay attention to what I am about to say"

We are here before you in our guilt

"You can see that we are all guilty"

there is no one who can stand before you

"you do not think that any person is innocent"

translationWords

Yahweh

God

Israel

righteous

guilt

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

for we cannot lit. for there is nothing; i.e., we do not have the power of good deeds to stand and exist before You, because of this transgression.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.