1 Esdras 8:65–9:17

Ezra’s Prayer

⁶⁵After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said,^{* 66}“The nation of Israel and the rulers and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the foreign nations of the land and their pollutions, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Edomites.^{* 67}For they and their sons have married the daughters of these people,^f and the holy seed has been mixed with the foreign nations of the land, and from the beginning of this matter the leaders and the nobles have been sharing in this iniquity.”

⁶⁸As soon as I heard these things, I tore my garments and my holy vestments and pulled out hair from my head and beard and sat down in anxiety and grief.^{* 69}And all who were ever moved at^g the word of the Lord of Israel gathered around me, as I mourned over this iniquity, and I sat grief-stricken until the evening sacrifice.^{* 70}Then I rose from my fast, with my garments and my holy vestments torn, and kneeling down and stretching out my hands to the Lord I said,

⁷¹“O Lord, I am ashamed and dishonored before your face. ⁷²For our sins have risen higher than our heads, and our mistakes have mounted up to heaven ⁷³from the times of our ancestors, and we are in great sin to this day. ⁷⁴Because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors, we with our kindred and our kings and our priests were given over to the kings of the earth, to the sword and exile and plundering, in shame until this day.^{* 75}And now in some measure mercy has come to us from you, O Lord, to leave to us a root and a name in your holy place^{* 76}and to uncover a light for us in the house of the Lord our God and to give us food in the time of our servitude. Even in our bondage we were not forsaken by our Lord,^{* 77}but he brought us into favor with the kings of the Persians, so that they have given us food^{* 78}and glorified the temple of our Lord and raised Zion from desolation, to give us a stronghold in Judea and Jerusalem.

⁷⁹“And now, O Lord, what shall we say when we have these things? For we have transgressed your commandments that you gave by your servants the prophets, saying,^{* 80}‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted with the pollution of the foreigners of the land, and they have filled it with their uncleanness. ⁸¹Therefore do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, and do not take their daughters for your sons; ⁸²do not seek ever to have peace with them, so that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ ⁸³And all that has happened to us has come about because of our evil deeds and our great sins. For you, O Lord, lifted the burden of our sins ⁸⁴and gave us such a root as this, but we turned back again to transgress your law by mixing with the uncleanness of the nations of the land.^{* 85}Were you not angry enough with us to destroy us without leaving a root or seed or name?^{* 86}O Lord of Israel, you are faithful, for we are left as a root to this day.^{* 87}See, we are now before you in our iniquities, for we can no longer stand in your presence because of these things.”

The Plan for Ending Mixed Marriages

⁸⁸While Ezra was praying and making his confession, weeping and lying on the ground before the temple, there gathered around him a very great crowd of men and women and youths from Jerusalem, for there was great weeping among the multitude.^{* 89}Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, one of the men of Israel, called out and said to Ezra, “We have sinned against the Lord and have married foreign women from the nations of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel. ⁹⁰Let us take an oath to the Lord about this, that we will put away all our foreign wives with their children, as seems good to you and to all who obey the law of the Lord. ⁹¹Rise up^h and take action, for it is your task, and we are with you to take strong measures.” ⁹²Then Ezra rose up and made the leaders of the priests and Levites of all Israel swear that they would do this. And they swore to it.

The Expulsion of Foreign Wives

⁹Then Ezra set out and went from the court of the temple to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib^{* 2}and spent the night there, and he did not eat bread or drink water, for he was mourning over the great iniquities of the multitude. ³And a proclamation was made throughout Judea and Jerusalem to all who had returned from exile that they should assemble at Jerusalem ⁴and that if any did not meet there within two or three days, in accordance with the decision of the ruling elders, their livestock would be seized for sacrifice and the men themselvesⁱ expelled from the multitude of those who had returned from the captivity.

⁵Then the men of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within three days; this was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month.^{* 6}All the multitude sat in the open square before the temple, shivering because of the bad weather that prevailed.^{* 7}Then Ezra stood up and said to them, “You have broken the law and married foreign women and so have increased the sin of Israel. ⁸Now, then, make confession and give glory to the Lord the God of our ancestors^{* 9}and do his will; separate yourselves from the nations of the land and from your foreign wives.”

¹⁰Then all the multitude shouted and said with a loud voice, “We will do as you have said. ¹¹But the multitude is great, and it is winter, and we are not able to stand in the open air. This is not a work we can do in one day or two, for we have sinned too much in these things. ¹²So let the leaders of the multitude stay, and let all those in our settlements who have foreign wives come at the time appointed ¹³with the elders and judges of each place, until we are freed from the wrath of the Lord over this matter.”

¹⁴Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah undertook the matter on these terms, and Meshullam and Levi and Shabbethai served with them as judges. ¹⁵And those who had returned from exile acted in accordance with all this.

¹⁶Ezra the priest chose for himself the leading men of their ancestral houses, all of them by name, and on the new moon of the tenth month they began their sessions to investigate the matter. ¹⁷And the cases of the men who had foreign wives were brought to an end by the new moon of the first month.^*