5
Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. And they swore.
6
Then Ezra arose from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and [when] he came thither, he ate no bread, nor drank water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.
7
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should assemble at Jerusalem;
8
And that whoever 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 that had been carried away.
9
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within three days. It [was] the ninth month, and 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 for the great rain.
10
And Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken foreign wives to increase the trespass of Israel.
11
Now therefore make confession to 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 abroad, neither [is this] a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
14
Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them who have taken foreign wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter shall be turned from us.
15
Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this [matter]: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.