9
Then were all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the open space of the house of God, trembling because of the matter, and because of the pouring rain.
10
And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, Ye have acted unfaithfully, and have taken foreign wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
11
And now make confession to Jehovah the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign wives.
12
And the whole congregation answered and said with a loud voice, Yes, it is for us to do according to thy words.
13
But the people are many, and it is a time of pouring rain, and it is not possible to stand without: neither is this a work for one day or two; for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
14
Let now our princes, while this matter is going on, stand for all the congregation, and let all those that have taken foreign wives in our cities come at the appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce anger of our God be turned from us.
15
Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.
16
And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest [and] certain of the chief fathers were separated according to their fathers' houses, and all of them [expressed] by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
17
And they ended with all the men that had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month.
18
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken foreign wives, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren: Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.
19
And they gave their hand to send away their wives; and they offered a ram of the flock, as trespass-offering for their guilt.