7:26 the law of your God and the law of the king. The two are not identical. The distinction between religious and civil law was more important for the Jews in exile under a foreign civil power, than during the monarchy, when the state was of the same religion as the people. The second Aramaic section of Ezra ends with this verse.

let judgment be strictly executed. Ezra himself is not given the authority to punish in this verse; the “officials and the elders” exercise it in 10:8.