New Revised Standard Version introduces a section heading here: “Ezra’s Prayer.” Revised Standard Version, however, simply continues the syntactic structure of the Hebrew with saying. Good News Translation introduces the words that will follow with a new sentence that begins “I said.” New International Version “and prayed” follows the Revised Standard Version pattern but makes explicit that Ezra is praying. The words of the prayer are recounted in direct speech; that is, the writer presents the prayer as the words that were spoken by Ezra. Therefore, both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation mark the beginning of the prayer with opening quotation marks and its end at verse 15 with closing quotation marks. Translators should use a style of language that is solemn and that is appropriate for addressing God in prayer.
Ezra’s prayer begins in the first person singular with his personal expression of shame and guilt. Then it shifts to the first person plural with a communal confession of sin, making the subject of his prayer the sins that have been committed. These are referred to in the third person plural. The prayer is a prayer of penitence. The structure of the prayer includes a lament (verses 6-7), a recognition of God’s favor (verses 8-9), a confession of breaking God’s commandments (verses 10-12), a statement of intent to keep God’s commandments (verses 13-14), and an acknowledgment of the justice of God (verse 15). There is no supplication or appeal for forgiveness.
O my God: Ezra addresses God directly in his prayer. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both insert the interjection O to indicate the vocative form in English. This is the grammatical construction that indicates that the speaker is calling the name of the one to whom the prayer is being addressed (also New American Bible, New English Bible, New King James Version , New Living Translation). The same is done with “Ee” in Swahili and “Ya” in Fulfulde (Deftere Allah). However, many translations follow the Hebrew text, which does not use an interjection (see also Neh 1.5). In some languages an emphatic particle may follow the name that is called upon, for example, “My God-oo!” or “O my God-ee!” In other languages the vocative form of the name will be sufficient to convey the meaning of the Hebrew invocation.
Good News Translation omits the possessive pronoun my and restructures the verse for more natural and easy reading. In some cultures it may not seem acceptable to address God with the possessive pronoun “my.” It may then be necessary to say “O God that I worship” or “O God that I follow.” Good News Translation also eliminates the repetition of my God, thereby removing some of the emphasis of the original text. If possible, the repetition should be retained.
I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to thee: Ezra begins his prayer with his own feelings of shame and embarrassment before God. The two verbs ashamed and blush are near synonyms that express Ezra’s humiliation, disgrace and disappointment because of the actions of his people. The first was used earlier in the book of Ezra to express a sense of humiliation (8.22). The second means that Ezra is “put to shame” to raise his face toward God. These two verbs are used together in Jer 6.15, where God complains that the people of Jerusalem were not ashamed and did not even know how to blush when they committed abomination (so Revised Standard Version). Revised Standard Version uses the verb blush, referring to the physical feeling and appearance of one’s face when one is ashamed. One’s face may become flushed with shame. Perhaps it may be stated that Ezra’s “face became hot” or that he “lost face” in turning to pray to God under these circumstances. Raising one’s face toward God was a gesture of approaching God in worship and prayer. Bible en français courant restructures the first half of the verse and uses an exclamation followed by a declaration: “My God, what humiliation! My God, I feel too much shame to dare to raise my look toward you.”
Two metaphors are used in a parallelism to describe the immense extent of Israel’s sins for which Ezra feels shame: our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. The metaphors relate to location and motion. Both descriptions are very vivid; the second is clearly deliberate exaggeration for effect. The two parallel figures of speech express essentially the same idea, except that the second is stronger than the first. The first metaphor is found also in Psa 38.4. The reference to the heavens (see Ezra 1.2) as the dwelling place of God is an indirect way of referring to God himself (compare Jer 51.9). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates “our errors have multiplied over our heads and our offense has become great [reaching] as far as the heavens.”
Iniquities is an important word in the theology of the Old Testament. It refers to “transgressions,” “sins” (Bible en français courant, New International Version, Good News Translation) or “mistakes, errors” (Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). It may also refer to the guilt associated with sins that have been committed (see Lev 5.1).
Guilt refers to personal responsibility for sins one has committed. It refers to the fact that someone has done something wrong, and therefore it implies that there is judgment and a penalty to be paid. This may be described as “the weight of our sins” or “the words of our sins that are on us” or perhaps “our sins that are on our heads.” Both iniquities and guilt are qualified by the personal pronoun our. This is the collective our, but it is the first person plural exclusive possessive pronoun because it is addressed to God, and the speaker obviously does not include God in his confession.
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 .
Ezra 9.:7
From the days of our fathers to this day: By using the first person plural our, Ezra identifies with the history of the community of Israel that is acknowledged to have been sinful. The misfortunes in their history were recognized to be a judgment on their sins. They were still experiencing this judgment: to this day. This could have referred to those still in exile who had not returned to Jerusalem or to the depressed conditions of those who had returned and still did not have political freedom.
The Hebrew word for fathers is used here to refer to all the historical fathers of the Jews of Ezra’s day, that is, “ancestors” as Good News Translation has said. Some languages say “From the days of the grandfathers” with the meaning “From the time of our ancestors.”
We have been in great guilt; and for our iniquities: Ezra identifies with the guilt and sin of the community by continuing his prayer in the first person plural (we/our). He repeats the same two words for sin from the preceding verse, but here he reverses their order. First he had said that their guilt had become great, but here he identifies the people more directly with their great guilt. Then he cites their iniquities as the cause for the calamity that befell them. New Revised Standard Version translates we have been in great guilt in a more common English expression: “we have been deep in guilt.” This may also be expressed “great words have been on our heads” or “big blame has been upon us” or by a similar receptor language expression.
We, our kings, and our priests: The pronoun we is the first person exclusive because it includes Ezra and the people on behalf of whom he is speaking, including their political and religious leaders, but excludes God to whom Ezra is speaking (so Deftere Allah). Ezra thus identifies clearly and specifically who is included when he says we. By our kings he means the Israelite kings who have ruled over them, and by our priests he means their own priests who have served them in their worship of God.
Have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands: For the image of hand, see Ezra 5.12. The kings of the lands was a title used by Persian kings, but it may refer to all foreign kings. In a similar prayer by Nehemiah, reference is made to the Assyrian kings (Neh 9.32). Good News Translation implies that the lands are foreign lands by translating this as “foreign kings,” while New American Bible says explicitly “the kings of foreign lands.” Contemporary English Version translates “other kings” in contrast to their own kings.
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 .
Ezra uses the passive verb construction we … have been given … and thereby avoids identifying the one who delivered the Jews into the hands of foreign kings. However, it is clear that Ezra is referring to divine judgment for their unfaithfulness. In some languages where passive verb constructions are difficult, it may be necessary to say “you have permitted us to fall into the hands of foreign kings” or “you have allowed kings of other countries to overcome us.”
To the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame: Ezra uses four nouns in a litany of the suffering that the people have experienced at the hands of the foreign kings. The sword is used figuratively to express the fact that people were killed. Captivity refers to the exile to Babylonia. Plundering means that their places were robbed and looted by force and the people’s possessions were carried away as booty by their enemies. Shame depicts the state of the people of God who were under the rule of Persian kings. Some languages may need to express these nouns as verbs, as done in Good News Translation. However, in place of “we have been slaughtered,” it may be necessary to expand to “[some of] our people have been slaughtered.” This would avoid any implication that Ezra and his companions were dead.
As at this day: The translator must ensure that the time referred to here is not the present day, but the time of Ezra. He was recounting what had taken place in the history of Israel, but he was also bringing it up to his own day. Parole de Vie translates “as is still the case today.”
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 .