9 So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, atrembling because of this matter and the heavy rain.

10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel.

11 “Now therefore, amake confession to the Lord God of your fathers and bdo His will; and cseparate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”

12 Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, “That’s right! As you have said, so it is 1our duty to do.

13 “But there are many people; it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.

14 “Let our leaders 1represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the afierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.”