At the evening sacrifice I rose up from my fasting: Ezra sat there in his state of grief until the evening sacrifice and at that time he got up from his fasting. The basic meaning of the Hebrew word for fasting is “humiliation” and only later did it become associated with fasting (see the comments on Ezra 8.21). Although Ezra would not have eaten since taking his place in front of the Temple, the focus here is on the humiliation he faced as a result of this news. This is evident in the first words of his prayer in the next verse. Some versions translate as Revised Standard Version has done, but others interpret the meaning to be closer to the original sense of the word as Good News Translation has done. Thus, New International Version says “I rose from my self-abasement,” while New Jerusalem Bible says “I came out of my stupor.”

With my garments and my mantle rent is literally “in my tearing my garments and my mantle.” This does not refer to tearing his clothes a second time. It refers to still wearing the clothes that he had torn in his grief. Some languages will specify “with my torn clothing and outer garment” and will indicate with special markers that this refers back to the same clothing that had been spoken about in a preceding part of the narration (verse 3 above).

Fell upon my knees: This was not the motion of falling from a height onto the ground or even of suddenly losing his balance and landing on his knees. It was rather a deliberate gesture of kneeling that was done as a sign of humility when repenting of sins. This was an unusual posture for prayer, which was usually done in a standing or sitting position.

Spread out my hands: Holding one’s hands in a spread out position was a gesture of need. In this position his hands were open with the palms turned upward.

LORD my God: See Ezra 1.2.

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 .