The previous verse says what the Jews had not done, and this verse says what they had done. They had married women that they found living in the land. Marriage with the women of Canaan had been forbidden because it would lead the people away from the God of Israel (Deut 7.3-4).
They have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons: The Hebrew says literally “they took from among their daughters for themselves and for their sons.” Revised Standard Version specifies some of their daughters and adds the phrase to be wives to make explicit what is implicit in the Hebrew text. Daughters should not necessarily be translated as “female offspring” in this context. Its meaning is “women of the land” or as Good News Translation says, “foreign women.” Good News Translation restructures the whole clause to express the meaning in natural language today, but in doing so, it hides the traditional social structure and marriage practices that are alluded to by the Hebrew expression.
The result of this lack of separation is that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. The holy race is literally “the holy seed” (New Revised Standard Version) and refers to the people of Israel as a holy people chosen by God (see Ezra 8.28), especially those who returned from exile (see Isa 6.13). The concern was to maintain the purity of their religion and religious identity as indicated in the preceding verse by maintaining the separateness of their society and of their race. Chouraqui expresses this as “the consecrated seed,” while many versions partially replace the figurative language by the expression “the holy race” (so New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible). Good News Translation restructures the clause to make its meaning explicit. For comments on holy, see also Ezra 2.63. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version refer to peoples of the lands as “foreigners” throughout Ezra and Nehemiah. This identification is made explicit in the Hebrew text of Ezra 10.2.
In this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost: Intermarriage with foreigners was considered to be faithlessness or “unfaithfulness” (New International Version). King James Version translates the Hebrew word as “trespass.” New Jerusalem Bible calls it an “act of infidelity,” and Chouraqui says “rebellion.” Here the noun is used and in Ezra 10.2 and 10 a verb form is used (“broken faith” and “trespassed” in Revised Standard Version). Its basic meaning is “to act treacherously” or “to be faithless.” This word was used for sin against God by contact with holy things or by not keeping an oath.
Even among the officials and chief men there were those who had been faithless and had married wives from among the peoples of the lands. This would have been a great temptation since the local people had more land and wealth than the Jews who returned from captivity. It is also possible that few unmarried women made the journey back to Jerusalem. The hand of is a figure of speech that is used to refer to the whole person. It was not actually the hand of, but the officials and chief men themselves who were foremost, that is the leaders, in this act of unfaithfulness. Foremost is rendered “first” by Chouraqui and “worst offenders” by New Jerusalem Bible. New International Version has “led the way.”
The officials and chief men are not identified. It is generally assumed that the officials are the district governors. Each of the six districts of the province of Judah had two parts with a governor for each part (see Neh 3.9, 12). The chief men or “leaders” (so New Revised Standard Version) probably refers to other authorities who were under the governors. They may have been local leaders or community leaders. The word used here is of Akkadian origin. Revised English Bible translates it as “magistrates.” All these leaders were laity. They were not priests and Levites.
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 .