5
Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they should do according to this word. And they swore.
6
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. And when he came thither, he ate no bread nor drank water, for he mourned because of the transgression of those who had been carried away.
7
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem,
8
and that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those who had been carried away.
9
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the great rain.
10
And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, "Ye have transgressed and have taken foreign wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
11
Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do His pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the foreign wives."
12
Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, "As thou hast said, so must we do.
13
But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside, neither is this a work of one day or two; for we are many who have transgressed in this thing.
14
Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all those who have taken foreign wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us."
15
Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah stood against this matter, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.