Ezra 9:15 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Thou art righteous; a just and holy God, who dost hate, and wilt infallibly punish, sin and sinners. Or, thou art merciful, as appears from hence, that notwithstanding all our sins, thou hast not utterly destroyed us, but left a remnant of us. The Hebrew word here rendered righteous, is oft used for merciful; as is well known to all the learned. For we remain yet escaped; or, though we remain, &c., i.e. though thou hast yet spared us in part, yet thou art righteous, and therefore wilt certainly punish and destroy us according to our deserts, if we do not repent us, and reform this great wickedness. We are before thee in our trespasses; we are here in thy presence, and so are all our sins; we are arraigning ourselves before thy tribunal, acknowledging ourselves to be vile offenders, and thee to be just, if thou destroy us. We cannot stand before thee, to wit, in judgment, as that word is oft used, as Psalms 130:3; compare Psalms 1:5; we must needs fall and perish at thy presence, as the phrase is, Psalms 9:3. Because of this; because of this our great guilt, and the aggravations of it.