Problem of mixed marriages in Judah
65 After these things happened, the leaders came to me and said,
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"The people of Israel, the rulers, the priests, and the Levites haven't separated themselves from the impurities in the foreign neighboring peoples: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Edomites.
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They and their families have intermarried with their daughters, and the holy nation has been intermixed with the land's foreigners. The leaders and the officials have been sharing in this unlawful practice right from the start."
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As soon as I heard about these things, I tore my clothes and my priest's robe. I pulled out hair from my head and beard, and I sat down depressed and very sad.
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Everyone who was moved by the word of the Lord of Israel gathered around me as I mourned over this unlawful deed, and I sat there depressed until the evening sacrifice.
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After rising from my fast, with my clothes and priest's robe still torn, I knelt down, stretching out my hands to the Lord, and spoke:
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Lord, I'm ashamed and disgraced before you.
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Our sins are greater than what we imagined. Our ignorant deeds have reached heaven.
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From the times of our ancestors, we exist in great sin to this very day.
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Because of our sin and our ancestors' sin, we were handed over—with our brothers, sisters, kings, and priests—to the kings of the earth for death, exile, and plunder. We continue to bear the shame until today.
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But you, Lord, have shown to us a measure of mercy, to leave for us a descendant and honor in your holy place,
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to uncover a light for us in the Lord's house, and to give us nourishment in the time of our slavery.
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Even in our servitude we weren't forgotten, but the Lord showed us favor among the kings of the Persians
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so that they've given us provisions, honored the Lord's temple, and rebuilt the ruins of Zion, to give us a solid place in Judea and Jerusalem.
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Now that we have these things, what will we say, Lord? We have violated your commandments, which you gave by your servants the prophets:
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"The land that you are about to possess is a land polluted with the foreigners of the land. The foreigners have filled it with their impurity.
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So don't give your daughters in marriage to their sons, and don't take their daughters for your sons.
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Don't seek at any time to make a peace treaty with them, so that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and pass it on as an inheritance to your children forever."
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All that has happened to us has resulted from our evil deeds and our great sins.
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For you, Lord, removed our sins, and you gave us such a root as this. Yet we again turned away to disobey your Law by intermixing with the impure of the neighboring peoples.
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Weren't you angry enough with us to destroy us without leaving a root or a descendant or our honor?
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Lord of Israel, you are true. We are left as a root this very day.
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Look! We are now before you in our immorality. We can't stand in your presence anymore because of these things.
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While Ezra was praying and offering up his confession, weeping in the dust before the temple, a very large crowd of men, women, and youth from Jerusalem gathered around him. There was great weeping among the people.
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Then Shecaniah, Jehiel's son, one of the men of Israel, shouted to Ezra, "We have sinned against the Lord, and we have married foreign women from the neighboring peoples. Yet there is hope for Israel.
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Let's swear a pledge to the Lord about this matter, to divorce all of our foreign wives, with their children, as it seems just to you and to as many who follow the Lord's Law.
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Stand up and take part, for it is your duty, and we are with you to act with resolve."
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Then Ezra stood up and made the leaders of the priests and Levites of all Israel swear to do as was said, and they swore that they would.