Instead of acting immediately, the people offered a counter suggestion. They proposed that officials stand for the whole assembly. The men with foreign wives would come to them from each town at appointed times. They would be accompanied by the elders and judges of every city who knew their situation and could ensure a fair decision. These would be the local officials in each town. The proposed system was like that set up by King Jehoshaphat of Judah in the ninth century B.C. (2 Chr 19.8-11).

Let our officials stand for the whole assembly: The proposal is expressed in the form of a third person plural imperative. The people propose that their leaders should “represent” them (so New Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). New International Version and Revised English Bible say they should “act for the whole assembly.” The officials would be those mentioned in Ezra 9.1 (see verse 8 above). The possessive pronoun our in the text should be rendered by a first person plural exclusive pronoun, because the officials to whom they refer are their own leaders apart from Ezra.

Let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times: The appointed times are those that will be set or fixed (see also Neh 10.34; 13.31). New Jerusalem Bible says “stated times.” Bible en français courant translates “the date that will be indicated to them.” In translation it may be necessary to change this expression to an active construction, such as “the times that people will set.”

The elders and judges of every city: These are the local officials in each city. The elders held lower levels of responsibility on the local level (verse 8 above), and judges in the cities upheld the laws and had a governing function (see 2 Chr 19.5-7).

Till the fierce wrath of our God over this matter be averted from us: This is the third mention of God’s anger in the book of Ezra and it is the strongest (see Ezra 7.23; 8.22; also Neh 13.18). The Hebrew for fierce wrath portrays a vivid picture of God’s anger. Two Hebrew words are used together. The first means literally “fire, burning” (see Job 20.23; Psa 2.5, where Revised Standard Version renders it “fury”). The second is derived from a verb that means “to breathe, to exhale through the nose” and therefore it means “nose” and secondly “anger” that can be accompanied by hard breathing. These words are used together in the Old Testament to describe the “the heat of the anger of our God” (Darby) or his “burning anger” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Translators should seek to use an equivalent image in the receptor language.

The Hebrew word translated until can refer either to time (New Revised Standard Version and New International Version “until”) or to result (New Living Translation “so that”; Good News Translation “In this way”). There is a second occurrence of the same word in this part of the sentence. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports the Hebrew Masoretic Text “as long as this matter [goes on]” with a C rating. But from the textual evidence in two Hebrew manuscripts and the versions, it is possible that the original word was slightly different and was later corrupted. That would give the meaning “over” and is the basis of the Revised Standard Version translation over this matter. Similarly, New Revised Standard Version and New English Bible have “on this account,” Good News Translation “over this situation,” and New International Version “in this matter.” This meaning is preferred for translation.

Be averted is literally “to cause to turn away.” In the Hebrew the fierce wrath is the object of this verb. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translates the whole clause as follows: “in order to avert the burning anger of our God from us on this account.” However, in English it is more natural to use a passive construction here, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done. New International Version has “until the fierce anger of our God in this matter is turned away from us” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible). Some languages may restructure here to say “until the fierce anger of our God is no longer upon us because of this matter.”

This is the end of the direct quotation that reports the people’s response to Ezra’s instruction.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .