And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;

EZRA 9:13KJV
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Ezra 9:13 (KJV)

What does Ezra 9:13 mean?

Ezra 9:13 is part of Ezra’s prayer about the people’s wrongdoing. Ezra acknowledges that serious troubles have come upon them, yet he tells God that their punishment has been lighter than their deeds deserved and that God has allowed people to escape.

Ezra speaks as one of the people, saying “our” deeds and “our” God. His words lead into a question in verse 14 about whether they should again break God’s commands. The sentence in verse 13 remains unfinished until that question.

The Hebrew behind Ezra 9:13

  • “punished” — חָשַׂךְ (ḥasakh): This word can mean “hold back” or “restrain.” Here it helps picture God holding back from giving the full punishment Ezra believes their wrongdoing deserved.
  • “deliverance” — פְּלֵיטָה (peletah): This word can refer to escape or to those who have escaped. Here the “deliverance” includes the people who survived and were able to return to their land.

Why Ezra 9:13 matters

  • Ezra treats the people’s troubles and their escape as parts of the same history. His prayer holds together what “is come upon us” and what God has “given us.”
  • The verse prepares for Ezra’s concern about repeating the wrongdoing. In verse 14, he asks whether the people should break God’s commands again by joining in marriage with peoples whose practices the law had forbidden.
  • “Such deliverance as this” points to the situation Ezra can see around him. Earlier in the prayer, he speaks of a surviving group and a place in God’s holy land (Ezra 9:8).

Where else these words appear

“trespass” Hebrew H819 · used in 17 verses

  • Leviticus 4:3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.
  • 2 Chronicles 24:18 And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.
  • Ezra 9:7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

“less” Hebrew H4295 · used in 18 verses

  • Exodus 26:24 And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners.
  • Exodus 39:20 And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod.
  • Proverbs 15:24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

“punished” Hebrew H2820 · used in 28 verses

  • Genesis 20:6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
  • Job 16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?
  • Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

“deliverance” Hebrew H6413 · used in 28 verses

  • Genesis 32:8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
  • 2 Chronicles 20:24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
  • Isaiah 37:31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: