Ezra 10:1-10

1 Therefore while Ezra prayed so, and besought God, and wept, and lay (down) before the temple of God, a full great company of Israel (a very great crowd of Israelites), of men, and of women, and of children, was gathered together to him; and the people wept with much weeping.
2 And Shechaniah, the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered, and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have wedded wives, alien women, of the peoples of the land. And now, for penance is in Israel on this thing, (And Shechaniah, the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered, and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have wedded wives, foreign women, of the peoples of the land. And now, for there is penance in Israel for this thing,)
3 make we (a) bond of peace with the Lord our God, and cast we away all our alien wives, and them that be born of those wives, by the will of the Lord; and of them that dread the commandment of our God, be it done by the law. (let us make a covenant with the Lord our God to cast away, that is, to send away, all our foreign wives, and those who were born of those wives, according to thy counsel, my lord, and the counsel of those who fear the command of our God/who revere the command of our God; yea, let it be done according to the Law.)
4 Rise thou up, it pertaineth to thee to deem, and we shall be with thee; be thou comforted, and do thus. (Rise thou up, it pertaineth to thee to judge this, and we shall be with thee; be thou strengthened, and do thus.)
5 Then Ezra rose up, and charged greatly the princes of (the) priests, and deacons, and all Israel, to do after this word; and they swore thereto. (Then Ezra rose up, and greatly charged the leaders of the priests, and the Levites, and all the Israelites, to do this thing; and they swore that they would do it.)
6 And Ezra rose up before the house of God, and he went to the bed [place] of Johanan, the son of Eliashib, and he entered [in] thither; he ate not bread, nor drank water; for he bewailed the trespassing of them, that were come from the captivity.
7 And a voice of them was sent into Judah and Jerusalem (And so the word was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem), to all the sons of (the) captivity, that they should be gathered together in Jerusalem;
8 and [that] each man that cometh not thither (with)in three days, by the counsel of the princes and of [the] elder men, all his chattel shall be taken away from him, and he shall be cast away from the company of (the) transmigration (and he shall be cast out, or sent away, from those who have returned from the captivity).
9 Therefore all the men of Judah and of Benjamin came together into Jerusalem in three days; that is the ninth month, in the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of God's house, and trembled for (the) sin, and for (the) rain. (And so all the men of Judah and of Benjamin came together in Jerusalem within the three days; that was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the square of God's House, that is, in the Temple Square, and trembled because of the sin, and because of the rain.)
10 And Ezra, the priest, rose up, and said to them, Ye have trespassed, and ye have wedded wives, alien women, that ye should lay to, or increase, upon the trespass of Israel. (And Ezra, the priest, rose up, and said to them, Ye have trespassed, and ye have wedded wives, foreign women, and so ye have increased Israel's trespass, or sin.)

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Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.