SEV Biblia, Chapter 9:3
Lo cual oyendo yo, rasgué mi vestido y mi manto, y arranqué de los cabellos de mi cabeza y de mi barba, y me senté atónito.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Ezra 9:3
Verse 3. I rent my garment and my mantle] The outer and inner garment, in sign of great grief. This significant act is frequently mentioned in the sacred writings, and was common among all ancient nations. Plucked off the hair] Shaving the head and beard were signs of excessive grief; much more so the plucking off the hair, which must produce exquisite pain. All this testified his abhorrence, not merely of the act of having taken strange wives, but their having also joined them in their idolatrous abominations.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 3. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle , etc.] Both inward and outward garments, that which was close to his body, and that which was thrown loose over it; and this he did in token of sorrow and mourning, as if something very dreadful and distressing, (see Job 1:20) and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard ; did not shave them, and so transgressed not the law in ( Leviticus 19:27) but plucked off the hair of them, to show his extreme sorrow for what was told him: which has frequently been done by mourners on sorrowful occasions in various nations, (see Isaiah 15:2). So in the apocryphal “addition” to Esther, “And laid away her glorious apparel, and put on the garments of anguish and mourning: and instead of precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body greatly, and all the places of her joy she filled with her torn hair.” (Esther 14:2) she is said to fill every place of joy with the tearing of her hair; and Lavinia in Virgil f94 ; several passages from Homer f95 , and other writers, both Greek and Latin, are mentioned by Bochart as instances of it: and sat down astonished ; quite amazed at the ingratitude of the people, that after such favours shown them, in returning them from captivity unto their own land, and settling them there, they should give into practices so contrary to the will of God.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - Many corruptions lurk out of the view of the most careful rulers. Some of the people disobeyed the express command of God, which forbade all marriages with the heathen, De 7. Disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of the sorry shifts we make to help ourselves. The exposed themselves and their children to the peril of idolatry, tha had ruined their church and nation. Carnal professors may make light of such connexions, and try to explain away the exhortations to be separate; but those who are best acquainted with the word of God, wil treat the subject in another manner. They must forebode the worst from such unions. The evils excused, and even pleaded for; by man professors, astonish and cause regret in the true believer. All wh profess to be God's people, ought to strengthen those that appear an act against vice and profaneness.
Original Hebrew
וכשׁמעי 8085 את 853 הדבר 1697 הזה 2088 קרעתי 7167 את 853 בגדי 899 ומעילי 4598 ואמרטה 4803 משׂער 8181 ראשׁי 7218 וזקני 2206 ואשׁבה 3427 משׁומם׃ 8074
