Ezra 8:22

8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger is against everyone who forsakes him.”

Ezra 9:7

9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and priests, have been delivered over by the local kings to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.


tn A number of modern translations regard this as a collective singular and translate “from enemies” (also in v. 31).

tn Heb “his strength and his anger.” The expression is a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms).

tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”