7
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the sons of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem
8
and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and of the elders, all his substance should be forfeited and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.
9
Thus were all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together unto Jerusalem within three days. It
was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the plaza of the house of God, trembling because of
this matter and because of the rains.
10
And Ezra, the priest, stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed because ye have taken strange women, thus increasing the guiltiness of Israel.
11
Now, therefore, make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers and do his will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the lands and from the strange women.
12
Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, Let it be done according to thy word.
13
But the people
are many, and
it is a time of much rain, and there is no strength to stand in the street; neither
is this a work of one day or two; for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
14
Let our rulers of all the congregation now stand, and let all those who have taken strange women in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of each city and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter is turned from us.
15
Jonathan, the son of Asahel, and Jahaziah, the son of Tikvah, were placed over this matter; and Meshullam and Shabbethai, the Levites, helped them.
16
And the sons of the captivity did so. And Ezra, the priest, and the men who were the heads of the fathers in the house of their fathers were separated, all of them by
their names, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to inquire into the matter.
17
And they finished, with all the men that had taken strange women by the first day of the first month.