Ezra 9:1

1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, doing according to their abominations,

Ezra 9:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 9:1

Now when these things were done
When the captives with Ezra had refreshed themselves, and weighed the money and vessels they brought, and put them into the hands of proper persons, and offered sacrifices, and delivered the king's commissions to his lieutenants and governors, and shown his own:

the princes came to me;
some of the nobles of Israel, the most religious of them, who were concerned at the corruptions that were among them, though not a sufficient number to reform them:

saying the people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not
separated themselves from the people of the land:
but joined with them, though not in idolatrous practices, yet by marrying with them, which might lead them into them:

doing according to their abominations;
not serving idols as they did, but imitating them in their marriages: even

of the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the
Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites;
affinity with many of these was forbidden by an express law, ( Deuteronomy 7:1 Deuteronomy 7:3 ) all but the Moabites, Ammonites, and Egyptians, and from these for the same reason they were to abstain; namely, lest they should be drawn into idolatry; that the priests and Levites should do this, who ought to have known the law, and instructed the people better, was very sad and shocking.

Ezra 9:1 In-Context

1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, doing according to their abominations,

2 for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed is mingled with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and of the governors has been foremost in this trespass.

3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off of the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonied.

4 Then each one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the transgression of those that had been carried away were assembled unto me; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.

5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my affliction; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God