9:1 After these things had been done. That is, four and a half months after arrival (7:9; 10:9).

the officials approached me and said. Ezra had come to teach the law (7:10 note) and now some of the leaders came to him to report certain sins. Possibly they were responding to his teaching.

have not separated themselves. The point was the difference of religion, not race, as the following verses indicate (vv. 10–12; 4:3 note).

the peoples of the lands. Of those listed, only the Ammonites, Moabites, and Egyptians were present in the days of Ezra. The others were in the land during the Conquest under Joshua, and the mention of them could have brought to mind the original prohibitions against intermarriage (Ex. 34:10–16; Deut. 7:1–4).