Ezra 10 (New American Standard)

Reconciliation with God

1 Now ¹while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself ²before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel ; for the people wept bitterly . 2 Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, "³We have been unfaithful to our God and have ^amarried foreign women from the peoples of the land ; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3 "So now ⁴let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and ^b5their children, according to the counsel of ^cmy lord and of ⁶those who tremble at the commandment of our God ; and let it be done ⁷according to the law. 4 "Arise ! For this matter is ^dyour responsibility, but we will be with you; ⁸be courageous and act." 5 Then Ezra rose and ⁹made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, take oath that they would do according to this ^eproposal ; so they took the oath. 6 Then Ezra ¹⁰rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, ¹¹he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. 7 They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles , that they should assemble at Jerusalem, 8 and 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. 9 So 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, ¹²trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. 10 Then 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, ¹³make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and ¹⁴do His will ; and ¹⁵separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives." 12 Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, "That's right ! As you have said, so it is ^four 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 ^grepresent 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 ¹⁶fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us." 15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah ^hopposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them. 16 But the exiles did so. And ⁱEzra the priest selected men who were heads of fathers' households for each of their father's households, all of them by name. So they ^jconvened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. 17 They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

List of Offenders

18 Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of ¹⁷Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers : Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah. 19 They ^kpledged to put away their wives, and being guilty, ¹⁸they offered a ram of the flock for their offense. 20 Of the sons of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah ; 21 and of the sons of Harim : Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel and Uzziah ; 22 and of the sons of Pashhur : Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad and Elasah. 23 Of Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita ), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer. 24 Of the singers there was Eliashib ; and of the gatekeepers : Shallum, Telem and Uri. 25 Of Israel, of the sons of ¹⁹Parosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah ; 26 and of the sons of Elam : Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth and Elijah ; 27 and of the sons of ²⁰Zattu : Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad and Aziza ; 28 and of the sons of Bebai : Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai ; 29 and of the sons of Bani : Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal and Jeremoth ; 30 and of the sons of Pahath-moab : Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh ; 31 and of the sons of Harim : Eliezer, Isshijah, ²¹Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, 32 Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah ; 33 of the sons of Hashum : Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei ; 34 of the sons of Bani : Maadai, Amram, Uel, 35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, 36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu, 38 Bani, Binnui, Shimei, 39 Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, 40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41 Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42 Shallum, Amariah and Joseph. 43 Of the sons of ²²Nebo there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel and Benaiah. 44 All these had married ²³foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.