1 Esdras 8:68–9:17

^68xNow when these things were done, the rulers came unto me, and said, ⁶⁹The nation of Israel, the princes, the priests and Levites, have not put away from them the strange people of the land, nor the pollutions of the Gentiles, to wit, of the Canaanites, Hittites, Pheresites, Jebusites, and the Moabites, Egyptians, and ^yEdomites. ⁷⁰For both they and their sons have married with their daughters, and the holy seed is mixed with the strange people of the land; and from the beginning of this matter the rulers and the great men have been partakers of this iniquity. ⁷¹And as soon as I had heard these things, I rent my clothes, and the holy garment, and pulled off the hair from off my head and beard, and sat me down sad and ^zvery heavy. ⁷²So all they that were then moved at the word of ^qthe Lord God of Israel assembled unto me, whilst I mourned for the iniquity: but I sat still ^zfull of heaviness until the evening sacrifice. ⁷³Then rising up from ^athe fast with my clothes and the holy garment rent, and bowing my knees, and stretching forth my hands unto the Lord, ⁷⁴I said,

O Lord, I am confounded and ^bashamed before thy face; ⁷⁵for our sins are multiplied above our heads, and our ignorances have reached up unto heaven. ⁷⁶For ever since the time of our fathers we have been and are in great sin, even unto this day. ⁷⁷And for our sins and our fathers’ we with our brethren and our kings and our priests were given up unto the kings of the earth, to the sword, and to captivity, and ^cfor a prey with shame, unto this day. ⁷⁸And now in some measure hath mercy been shewed unto us from thee, O Lord, that there should be left us a root and a name in the place of thy sanctuary; ⁷⁹and to discover unto us a light in the house of the Lord our God, and ^dto give us food in the time of our servitude. ⁸⁰Yea, when we were in bondage, we were not forsaken of our Lord; but he made us gracious before the kings of Persia, ^dso that they gave us food; ⁸¹yea, and honoured the temple of our Lord, and raised up the desolate Sion, that they have given us a sure abiding in Jewry and Jerusalem. ⁸²And now, O Lord, what shall we say, having these things? for we have transgressed thy ^ecommandments, which thou gavest by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying, ⁸³that the land, which ye enter into to possess as an heritage, is a land polluted with the pollutions of the strangers of the land, and they have filled it with their uncleanness. ⁸⁴Therefore now shall ye not join your daughters unto their sons, neither shall ye take their daughters unto your sons. ⁸⁵Moreover you shall never seek to have peace with them, that ye may be strong, and eat the good things of the land, and that ye may leave the inheritance of the land unto your children for evermore. ⁸⁶And all that is befallen is done unto us for our wicked works and great sins: for thou, O Lord, didst make our sins light, ⁸⁷and didst give unto us such ^fa root: but we have turned back again to transgress thy law, and to mingle ourselves with the uncleanness of the nations of the land. ⁸⁸Mightest not thou be angry with us to destroy us, till thou hadst ^gleft us neither ^froot, seed, nor name? ⁸⁹O Lord of Israel, thou art true: for we are left ^fa root this day. ⁹⁰Behold, now are we before thee in our iniquities, for we cannot stand any longer by reason of these things before thee.

^91hAnd as Esdras in his prayer made his confession, weeping, and lying flat upon the ground before the temple, there gathered unto him from Jerusalem a very great multitude of men and women and children: for there was great weeping among the multitude. ⁹²Then Jechonias the son of Jeelus, one of the sons of Israel, called out, and said, O Esdras, we have sinned against the Lord God, we have married strange women of the nations of the land, and now is all Israel aloft. ⁹³Let us make an oath to the Lord, that we will put away all our wives, which we have taken of the heathen, with their children, ⁹⁴like as thou hast decreed, and as many as do obey the law of the Lord. ⁹⁵Arise, and put in execution: for to thee doth this matter appertain, and we will be with thee: do valiantly. ⁹⁶So Esdras arose, and took an oath of the chief of the priests and Levites of all Israel to do after these things; and so they sware.

IX.Then Esdras rising from the court of the temple went to the chamber of Joanan the son of Eliasib, ²and remained there, and did eat no meat nor drink water, mourning for the great iniquities of the multitude. ³And there was a proclamation in all Jewry and Jerusalem to all them that were of the captivity, that they should be gathered together at Jerusalem: ⁴and that whosoever met not there within two or three days, according as the elders that bare rule appointed, their cattle should be seized to the use of the temple, and himself cast out from them that were of the captivity.

^5aAnd in three days were all they of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin gathered together at Jerusalem the twentieth day of the ninth month. ⁶And all the multitude sat trembling in the broad court of the temple because of the present foul weather. ⁷So Esdras arose up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed the law in marrying strange wives, thereby to increase the sins of Israel. ⁸And now ^bby confessing give glory unto the Lord God of our fathers, ⁹and do his will, and separate yourselves from the heathen of the land, and from the strange women. ¹⁰Then cried the whole multitude, and said with a loud voice, Like as thou hast spoken, so will we do. ¹¹But forasmuch as the people are many, and it is foul weather, so that we cannot stand without, and this is not a work of a day or two, seeing our sin in these things is spread far: ¹²therefore let the rulers of the multitude stay, and let all them of our habitations that have strange wives come at the time appointed, ¹³and with them the ^crulers and judges of every place, till we turn away the wrath of the Lord from us for this matter. ¹⁴Then Jonathan the son of Azael and Ezechias the son of Theocanus accordingly took this matter upon them: and Mosollam and Levis and Sabbatheus helped them. ¹⁵And they that were of the captivity did according to all these things. ¹⁶And Esdras the priest chose unto him the principal men of their families, all by name: and in the first day of the tenth month they sat together to examine the matter. ¹⁷So their cause that held strange wives was brought to an end ^din the first day of the first month.