Ezra 9–10

Chapter 9

Mixed Marriages

¹Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ^aseparated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ^baccording to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites.

²“For ^athey have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that ^bthe holy ¹race has ^cintermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.”

³When I heard about this matter, I ^atore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and ^bsat down appalled.

⁴Then ^aeveryone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until ^bthe evening offering.

Prayer of Confession

⁵But at the evening offering I arose from my ¹humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and ^astretched out my ²hands to the Lord my God;

⁶and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have ¹risen above our heads and our ^aguilt has grown even to the heavens.

⁷“^aSince the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to ^1bopen shame, as it is this day.

⁸“But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, ^ato leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a ^bpeg in His holy place, that our God may ^cenlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.

⁹“^aFor we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but ^bhas extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰“Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

¹¹which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and ^awith their impurity.

¹²‘So now do not ^agive your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and ^bnever seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and ^cleave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’

¹³“After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and ^aour great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us ^ban escaped remnant as this,

^14ashall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples ¹who commit these abominations? ^bWould You not be angry with us ²to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape?

¹⁵“O Lord God of Israel, ^aYou are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in ^bour guilt, for ^cno one can stand before You because of this.”

Chapter 10

Reconciliation with God

¹Now ^awhile Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself ^bbefore the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly.

²Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “^aWe have been unfaithful to our God and have ¹married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

³“So now ^alet us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and ^1btheir children, according to the counsel of ²my lord and of ^cthose who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done ^daccording to the law.

⁴“Arise! For this matter is ¹your responsibility, but we will be with you; ^abe courageous and act.”

⁵Then Ezra rose and ^amade the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, take oath that they would do according to this ¹proposal; so they took the oath.

⁶Then Ezra ^arose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, ^bhe did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.

⁷They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should assemble at Jerusalem,

⁸and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited and he himself excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

⁹So 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.

¹⁰Then 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.”

¹²Then 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.”

¹⁵Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah ¹opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

¹⁶But the exiles did so. And ¹Ezra the priest selected men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they ²convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter.

¹⁷They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

List of Offenders

¹⁸Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of ^aJeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah.

¹⁹They ¹pledged to put away their wives, and being guilty, ^athey offered a ram of the flock for their offense.

²⁰Of the sons of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah;

²¹and of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel and Uzziah;

²²and of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad and Elasah.

²³Of Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer.

²⁴Of the singers there was Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem and Uri.

²⁵Of Israel, of the sons of ^aParosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah;

²⁶and of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth and Elijah;

²⁷and of the sons of ^aZattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad and Aziza;

²⁸and of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai;

²⁹and of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal and Jeremoth;

³⁰and of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh;

³¹and of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, ^aMalchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

³²Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah;

³³of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei;

³⁴of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel,

³⁵Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,

³⁶Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

³⁷Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu,

³⁸Bani, Binnui, Shimei,

³⁹Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,

⁴⁰Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

⁴¹Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,

⁴²Shallum, Amariah and Joseph.

⁴³Of the sons of ^aNebo there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel and Benaiah.

⁴⁴All these had married ^aforeign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.