Ezra:10:1-17

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* And while Ezra prayed , and made confession , weeping and falling down before the house of God , there were gathered to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children ; for the people wept very much . * And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel , of the sons of Elam , answered and said to Ezra , We have acted unfaithfully toward our God , and have taken foreign wives of the peoples of the land ; yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing . * And now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives , and such as are born of them , according to the counsel of [my ] lord , and of those that tremble at the commandments of our God ; and let it be done according to the law . * Arise , for this matter is incumbent on thee , and we will be with thee : be of good courage , and do [it ]. * Then Ezra arose , and made the chiefs of the priests , of the Levites , and of all Israel , to swear that they would do according to this word . And they swore . * And Ezra arose 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 and drank no water ; for he mourned because of the unfaithfulness of them that had been carried away . * And they made proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity , that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem ; * and that whosoever would not come within three days , according to the counsel of the princes and the elders , all his substance should be confiscated , and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * And the whole congregation answered and said with a loud voice , Yes , it is for us to do according to thy words . * 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 . * 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 . * Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this ; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them . * 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 . * And they ended with all the men that had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month .

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