English Standard Version
Ezra 9:6
6saying: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
Ezra 9:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
- New International Version (NIV)and prayed: “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
- New King James Version (NKJV)And I said: “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.
- New Living Translation (NLT)I prayed, “O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
Context of Ezra 9:6
4Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. 5And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, saying: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 8But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery.
Read all of Ezra 9Ezra 9:6 word by word
וָאֹמְרָ֗ה אֱלֹהַי֙ בֹּ֣שְׁתִּי וְנִכְלַ֔מְתִּי לְהָרִ֧ים אֱלֹהַ֛י פָּנַ֖י אֵלֶ֑יךָ כִּ֣י עֲוֹנֹתֵ֤ינוּ רָבוּ֙ לְמַ֣עְלָה רֹּ֔אשׁ וְאַשְׁמָתֵ֥נוּ גָדְלָ֖ה עַ֥ד לַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- O my Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
- I am ashamedבּוֹשׁbûsh · be ashamedH954
- and blushכָּלַםkâlam · be humiliatedH3637
- to lift upרוּםrûm · to exaltH7311
- my faceפָּנֶהpânîym · faceH6440
- for our iniquitiesעָוֺן‛âvôn ‛âvôn · iniquity: crimeH5771
- are increasedרָבָהrâbâh · to multiplyH7235
- overמַ֫עַלma‛al · aboveH4605
- headרֹאשׁrô'sh · headH7218
- and our trespassאַשְׁמָה'ashmâh · guiltinessH819
- is grown upגָּדַלgâdal · to magnifyH1431
- unto the heavensשָׁמַיִםshâmayim shâmeh · heavenH8064
Cross-references for Ezra 9:6
- Job 40:4"Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
- Job 42:6therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
- Jeremiah 3:3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.
- Jeremiah 6:15Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown," says the Lord.
- Jeremiah 8:12Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.
- Jeremiah 31:19For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'
- Ezekiel 16:63that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God."
- Daniel 9:7To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.
- Romans 6:21But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
- Genesis 13:13Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
- Psalms 38:4For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
- Isaiah 1:18"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
- Isaiah 59:12For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
- 2 Chronicles 28:9But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, "Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven.
- Luke 15:21And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
- Revelation 18:5for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
Commentaries on Ezra 9:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6I am ashamed and blush - God had been so often provoked, and had so often pardoned them, and they had continued to transgress, that he was ashamed to go back again to the throne of grace to ask for mercy in their behalf. This is the genuine feeling of every reawakened backslider.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-15Verses 5-15 The sacrifice, especially the evening sacrifice, was a type of the blessed Lamb of God, who in the evening of the world, was to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Ezra's address is a penitent confession of sin, the sin of his people. But let this be the comfort of true penitents, that though their sins reach to the heavens, God's mercy is in the heavens. Ezra, speaking of sin, speaks as one much ashamed. Holy shame is as necessary in…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6I am ashamed...our iniquities are higher than our heads: Although Ezra did not commit these sins, he identified with his people (see “Community Identity” Theme Note).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 5-155-15. I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God--The burden of his prayer, which was dictated by a deep sense of the emergency, was that he was overwhelmed at the flagrant enormity of this sin, and the bold impiety of continuing in it after having, as a people, so recently experienced the heavy marks of the divine displeasure. God had begun to show returning favor to Israel by the restoration of some. But this only aggravated…Read the comment
Topics related to Ezra 9:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ezra 9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries