Ezra 9–10

Intermarriage with Pagans

9When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ^aseparated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ^bwith respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ²For they have ^ctaken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the ^dholy seed is ^emixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this ¹trespass.” ³So when I heard this thing, ^fI tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down ^gastonished. ⁴Then everyone who ^htrembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, because of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the ⁱevening sacrifice.

⁵At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and ^jspread out my hands to the Lord my God. ⁶And I said: “O my God, I am too ^kashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for ^lour iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has ^mgrown up to the heavens. ⁷Since the days of our fathers to this day ⁿwe have been very guilty, and for our iniquities ^owe, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the ^psword, to captivity, to plunder, and to ^qhumiliation, ²as it is this day. ⁸And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may ^renlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage. ^9sFor we were slaves. ^tYet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but ^uHe extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us ^va wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁰And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, ¹¹which You commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land, with the ^wuncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from one end to another with their impurity. ¹²Now therefore, ^xdo not give your daughters as wives for their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons; and ^ynever seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and ^zleave it as an inheritance to your children forever.’ ¹³And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God ^ahave punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this, ¹⁴should we ^bagain break Your commandments, and ^cjoin in marriage with the people committing these abominations? Would You not be ^dangry with us until You had ³consumed us, so that there would be no remnant or survivor? ¹⁵O Lord God of Israel, ^eYou are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. ^fHere we are before You, ^gin our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!”

Confession of Improper Marriages

10Now ^awhile Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down ^bbefore the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very ^cbitterly. ²And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, “We have ^dtrespassed ¹against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this. ³Now therefore, let us make ^ea covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who ^ftremble at ^gthe commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the ^hlaw. ⁴Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. ⁱBe of good courage, and do it.”

⁵Then Ezra arose, and made the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel ^jswear an oath that they would do according to this word. So they swore an oath. ⁶Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he ^kate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity.

⁷And they issued a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the descendants of the captivity, that they must gather at Jerusalem, ⁸and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the instructions of the leaders and elders, all his property would be confiscated, and he himself would be separated from the assembly of those from the captivity.

⁹So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and ^lall the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of heavy rain. ¹⁰Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have ²transgressed and ³have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. ¹¹Now therefore, ^mmake confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; ⁿseparate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives.”

¹²Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “Yes! As you have said, so we must do. ¹³But there are many people; it is the season for heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor is this the work of one or two days, for there are many of us who have transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴Please, let the leaders of our entire assembly stand; and let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until ^othe fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter.” ¹⁵Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and ^pMeshullam and Shabbethai the Levite gave them support.

¹⁶Then the descendants of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain ^qheads of the fathers’ households, were set apart by the fathers’ households, each of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. ¹⁷By the first day of the first month they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan wives.

Pagan Wives Put Away

¹⁸And among the sons of the priests who had taken pagan wives the following were found of the sons of ^rJeshua the son of ⁴Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. ¹⁹And they ^sgave their promise that they would put away their wives; and being ^tguilty, they presented a ram of the flock as their ^utrespass offering.

²⁰Also of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah; ²¹of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah; ²²of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³Also of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

²⁴Also of the singers: Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵And others of Israel: of the ^vsons of Parosh: Ramiah, Jeziah, Malchiah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah; ²⁶of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Eliah; ²⁷of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza; ²⁸of the ^wsons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai; ²⁹of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and ⁵Ramoth; ³⁰of the ^xsons of Pahath-Moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh; ³¹of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchijah, 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, ⁶Cheluh, ³⁶Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷Mattaniah, Mattenai, ⁷Jaasai, ³⁸Bani, Binnui, Shimei, ³⁹Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, ⁴⁰Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴²Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph; ⁴³of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, ⁸Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah.

⁴⁴All these had taken pagan wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.