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But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve for us a remnant and to give us a stake in His holy place. Even in our bondage, our God has given us new life and light to our eyes.
Ezra 9:8 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Now for a little moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and revived us a little in our bondage.
  • KJV And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
  • NKJV And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.
  • NASB But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, so that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.
  • NLT “But now we have been given a brief moment of grace, for the Lord our God has allowed a few of us to survive as a remnant. He has given us security in this holy place. Our God has brightened our eyes and granted us some relief from our slavery.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Yet for a brief moment God had shown grace, leaving a remnant and giving them a secure foothold in His holy place. Even in judgment God preserved His people.

Overview

Ezra marveled that, despite their sin, the Lord had granted a surviving remnant, a 'nail' or secure place in the sanctuary, and renewed life in their bondage. The language of grace, remnant, and revival shows God's mercy outlasting His people's failure. This preserving grace toward an undeserving remnant foreshadows the gospel, in which God saves a people by grace alone (Romans 11:5-6).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 31

  • Ps 13:3Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,
  • Rom 11:5–6In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
  • Hos 6:2After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence.
  • Hab 3:2O LORD, I have heard the report of You; I stand in awe, O LORD, of Your deeds. Revive them in these years; make them known in these years. In Your wrath, remember mercy!
  • Isa 57:15For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
  • Ps 85:6Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?
  • Ezek 37:11–14Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
  • Jer 44:14so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone to reside in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, where they long to return and live; for none will return except a few fugitives.”
  • Job 33:30to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.
  • Ezek 6:8–9Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.
  • Rev 3:12The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name.
  • Ps 138:7If I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve me from the anger of my foes; You extend Your hand, and Your right hand saves me.
  • Jer 42:2Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the LORD your God on behalf of this entire remnant. For few of us remain of the many, as you can see with your own eyes.
  • Neh 9:31But in Your great compassion, You did not put an end to them; nor did You forsake them, for You are a gracious and compassionate God.
  • Ezek 14:22Yet, behold, some survivors will be left in it—sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will come out to you, and when you see their conduct and actions, you will be comforted regarding the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem—all that I have brought upon it.
  • Isa 1:9Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
  • Zech 8:6This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “If this is impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be impossible in My eyes?” declares the LORD of Hosts.
  • Eccl 12:11The words of the wise are like goads, and the anthologies of the masters are like firmly embedded nails driven by a single Shepherd.
  • Rom 9:27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
  • Isa 56:5I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
  • Zech 8:12“For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance.
  • Ps 34:5Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces shall never be ashamed.
  • Isa 22:23–25I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father.
  • Zech 10:4The cornerstone will come from Judah, the tent peg from him, as well as the battle bow and every ruler together.
  • 2 Kgs 19:30–31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
  • Ezra 9:13–15After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),
  • 2 Kgs 19:4Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
  • Neh 1:11O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)
  • Ezra 9:9Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
  • 1 Sam 14:27Jonathan, however, had not heard that his father had charged the people with the oath. So he reached out the end of the staff in his hand, dipped it into the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened.
  • 1 Sam 14:29“My father has brought trouble to the land,” Jonathan replied. “Just look at how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ezra videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ezra 9:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EzraMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The return from exile and the rebuilt altar keep alive the hope of a greater restoration — the true return from our deeper exile of sin accomplished by Christ.

How Ezra 9:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.