4
and 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 themselves expelled from the multitude of those who had returned from the captivity.
5
Then 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.
8
Now then make confession and give glory to the Lord the God of our ancestors,
9
and do his will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from your foreign wives."
10
Then all the multitude shouted and said with a loud voice, "We will do as you have said.
11
But 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.
12
So let the leaders of the multitude stay, and let all those in our settlements who have foreign wives come at the time appointed,
13
with the elders and judges of each place, until we are freed from the wrath of the Lord over this matter."
14
Jonathan 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.