7
Then Ezra rose 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 fathers,
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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.
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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.
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so let the leaders of the multitude stay, and let all those in our settlements who have foreign wives come at the time appointed,
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with the elders and judges of each place, until we are freed from the wrath of the Lord over this matter."
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Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah undertook the matter on these terms, and Meshullam and Levi and Shabbethai served with them as judges.
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And those who had returned from the captivity acted in accordance with all this.
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Ezra the priest chose for himself the leading men of their fathers' houses, all of them by name; and on the new moon of the tenth month they began their sessions to investigate the matter.
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And the cases of the men who had foreign wives were brought to an end by the new moon of the first month.