The People’s Confession of Sin

10 While Ezra was praying and confessing,^(A) weeping^(B) and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly. ² Then Shekaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam,^(C) said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful^(D) to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.^{(E) 3} Now let us make a covenant^(F) before our God to send away^(G) all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law. ⁴ Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.”

⁵ So Ezra rose up and put the leading priests and Levites and all Israel under oath^(H) to do what had been suggested. And they took the oath. ⁶ Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he was there, he ate no food and drank no water,^(I) because he continued to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.

⁷ A proclamation was then issued throughout Judah and Jerusalem for all the exiles to assemble in Jerusalem. ⁸ Anyone who failed to appear within three days would forfeit all his property, in accordance with the decision of the officials and elders, and would himself be expelled from the assembly of the exiles.

⁹ Within the three days, all the men of Judah and Benjamin^(J) had gathered in Jerusalem. And on the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the people were sitting in the square before the house of God, greatly distressed by the occasion and because of the rain. ¹⁰ Then Ezra^(K) the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful; you have married foreign women, adding to Israel’s guilt.^{(L) 11} Now honor^[a] the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives.”^(M)

¹² The whole assembly responded with a loud voice:^(N) “You are right! We must do as you say. ¹³ But there are many people here and it is the rainy season; so we cannot stand outside. Besides, this matter cannot be taken care of in a day or two, because we have sinned greatly in this thing. ¹⁴ Let our officials act for the whole assembly. Then let everyone in our towns who has married a foreign woman come at a set time, along with the elders and judges^(O) of each town, until the fierce anger^(P) of our God in this matter is turned away from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai^(Q) the Levite, opposed this.

¹⁶ So the exiles did as was proposed. Ezra the priest selected men who were family heads, one from each family division, and all of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to investigate the cases, ¹⁷ and by the first day of the first month they finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women.

Those Guilty of Intermarriage

⁴⁴ All these had married foreign women, and some of them had children by these wives.^[c]

Nehemiah’s Final Reforms

13 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,^{(A) 2} because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam^(B) to call a curse down on them.^(C) (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)^{(D) 3} When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.^(E)

⁴ Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms^(F) of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah,^{(G) 5} and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes^(H) of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.

⁶ But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes^(I) king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission ⁷ and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib^(J) had done in providing Tobiah^(K) a room in the courts of the house of God. ⁸ I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.^{(L) 9} I gave orders to purify the rooms,^(M) and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.^(N)

¹⁰ I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them,^(O) and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields.^{(P) 11} So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?”^(Q) Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.

¹² All Judah brought the tithes^(R) of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms.^{(S) 13} I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zakkur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.^(T)

¹⁴ Remember^(U) me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath.^(V) Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. ¹⁶ People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath^(W) to the people of Judah. ¹⁷ I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city?^(X) Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”^(Y)

¹⁹ When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath,^(Z) I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹ But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember^(AA) me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.

²³ Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married^(AB) women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.^{(AC) 24} Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language^(AD) of Judah. ²⁵ I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath^(AE) in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.^{(AF) 26} Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him.^(AG) He was loved by his God,^(AH) and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.^{(AI) 27} Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying^(AJ) foreign women?”

²⁸ One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib^(AK) the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat^(AL) the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.

²⁹ Remember^(AM) them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.^(AN)

³⁰ So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign,^(AO) and assigned them duties, each to his own task. ³¹ I also made provision for contributions of wood^(AP) at designated times, and for the firstfruits.^(AQ)

Remember^(AR) me with favor, my God.