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EZRA C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10
10 Ezra prostrated himself on the ground in front of the temple as he cried and prayed to God. He was confessing to God the sins that the people had committed. While he was doing that, a very large crowd of Israelites gathered around him, consisting of men, women, and children. They all cried very, very much because they had sinned against God.
2 Then Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel from the clan of Elam, spoke. He said this to Ezra: “We have disobeyed our God. Some of us have married women who are not Israelites. They come from the other people groups that live around us. But we can still hope that Yahweh will be merciful to us Israelite people. 3 Here is what I suggest. We should do what God told us to do in his laws. We should make an agreement with our God that we will divorce our foreign wives and send them away with their children. We will do everything according to what you, sir, and the others who greatly respect what our God has commanded, tell us to do. 4 Since you are our leader, get going, and be courageous, and do what is necessary to fix this problem. We will do whatever you say.”
5 So Ezra acted to fix the problem. He demanded that all of the Israelite people, including the leaders of the priests and the Levites, solemnly declare that they would do what Shekaniah said that they should do. So they all solemnly promised to do that. 6 Then Ezra went away from in front of the temple and went to the room where Jehohanan the grandson of Eliashib lived. Ezra continued to grieve because some of the Israelites who had returned from Babylonia had not faithfully obeyed God’s laws. So while he was there, he did not eat or drink anything.
7 Then the leaders sent a message to all the people in the province of Judan and the city of Jerusalem. They told them that all the Jews who had returned from Babylonia had to come to Jerusalem immediately. 8 The leaders announced the following penalties for anyone who did not arrive within three days. They would take away all the property belonging to that person, and they would banish that person from the community of Israelites. 9 So within three days, by the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the men from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem. They were sitting in the courtyard in front of the temple. They were trembling because it was raining hard and because they were worried that they would be punished for what they had done.
10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “Some of you have sinned very badly against God. Specifically, you have married women who are not Israelites. By doing that, you have made us Israelite people more guilty than we were before. 11 So now, confess your sin to Yahweh, the God whom your ancestors worshiped, and do what he commands. That is, separate yourselves from the people of other nations by divorcing your foreign wives.”
12 The whole group answered, shouting loudly, “Yes, we must do what you have said.” 13 Then one of them said, “But we are a very large group, and it is raining hard. We cannot continue to stand outside in this rain. Also, since many of us have committed this sin, it will take a long time to make things right again. 14 So please allow our leaders to decide what we should all do. Tell everyone in each city who has married a woman who is not an Israelite to come at a time that you decide. They should each come with the elders and judges from their own city. If we do that, our God will stop being angry with us because of what we have done.”
15 Within the crowd, Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah said that they disagreed with this plan. Then Meshullam and Shabbethai, a descendant of Levi, said that they agreed with Jonathan and Jahzeiah. 16 But they were the only ones who opposed the plan; all of the others who had returned from Babylonia said that they would do it. So Ezra the priest chose men who were leaders from each of the clans and wrote down their names. On the first day of the tenth month these men met to investigate the matter. 17 By the first day of the first month of the next year they had finished determining which men had married women who were not Israelites.
18 They determined that some of the descendants of the priests had married foreign women. These included some descendants of Joshua the son of Jozadak and of his brothers. Their names were Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. 19 They solemnly promised to divorce their wives and they each offered a ram as a sacrifice to atone for their sins.
20 In the clan of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah.
21 In the clan of Harim there were Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.
22 In the clan of Pashhur there were Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
23 The Levites who had married foreign women were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (whose other name was Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
24 There was Eliashib the musician. Among the temple guards there were Shallum, Telem, and Uri.
25 This is a list of the names of the other Israelites who had married foreign wives:
In the clan of Parosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malkijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malkijah, and Benaiah.
26 In the clan of Elam there were Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.
27 In the clan of Zattu there were Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza.
28 In the clan of Bebai there were Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
29 In the clan of Bani there were Meshullam, Malluk, Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal Jeremoth.
30 In the clan of Pahath-Moab there were Adna, Kelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.
31 In the clan of Harim there were Eliezer, Ishijah, Malkijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, 32 Benjamin, Malluk, and Shemariah.
33 In the clan of Hashum there were Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
34 In the clan of Bani there were Maadai, Amram, Uel, 35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Keluhi, 36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu.
38 In the clan of Binnui there were Shimei, 39 Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, 40 Maknadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41 Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.
43 In the clan of Nebo there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah. 44 All of those men had married women who were not Israelites. Some of those women had borne children, so when the men sent the women away, they also sent their children with them.