Ezra 9:9

For wewere bondmen R.V. For we are bondmen. Ezra explains his words -in our bondage". The bondage is not past. The Jews are still bondmen, in servitude to the king of Persia.

yet our God, &c. The hand of God's mercy could be discerned in the events of past history.

extended mercy Cf. Ezra 7:28.

to give us … to set up … to repair God, by the kings of Persia, gave the -reviving"; through their favour the Jews had been able -to set up" the Temple and -to repair" its ruins; the royal favour acted as a fence to the Jews against the neighbouring nations.

the desolations R.V. the ruins. Marg. waste places. Isaiah 44:26 -I will raise up the waste places thereof", Isaiah 61:4 -And they shall build the old wastes". Here where the word is applied to the house and is found in connexion with the -repair" (lit. -cause to stand" or -set up" as in Nehemiah 6:1) -ruins" seems the best English equivalent.

a wall So also R.V. text. R.V. marg. -a fence". The Hebrew word (-gâdêr") is specially used of a fence round a vineyard. It is used by Isaiah -I will break down the fence thereof" (Isaiah 5:5) in the celebrated allegory in which Israel is the vineyard. It occurs also in the Psalm (Psalms 80:12) -Why hast thou broken down her fences?", where the same image of the sacred vine is employed. The use of the word here is perhaps an allusion to these well-known passages. It is not a literal -fence" or -wall", but -protection" and -defence".

in Judah and in Jerusalem Cf. Ezra 2:1; Ezra 4:6; Ezra 5:1.