Ezra:10:1-17

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* Now when Ezra had prayed , and when he had confessed , weeping and casting himself down before the house of God , there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children : for the people wept very sore . * And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel , one of the sons of Elam , answered and said unto Ezra , We have trespassed against our God , and have taken strange wives of the people of the land : yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing . * Now therefore 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 commandment of our God ; and let it be done according to the law . * Arise ; for this matter belongeth unto thee : we also will be with thee : be of good courage , and do it . * 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 sware . * Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God , and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib : and when he came thither , he did eat no bread , nor drink water : for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away . * And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto 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 forfeited , and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away . * 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 for the great rain . * And Ezra the priest stood up , and said unto them , Ye have transgressed , and have taken strange wives , to increase the trespass of Israel . * 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 strange wives . * Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice , As thou hast said , so must we do . * But the people are many , and it is a time of much rain , and we are not able to stand without , neither is this a work of one day or two : for we are many that have transgressed in this thing . * Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand , and let all them which have taken strange 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 . * 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 . * And the children of the captivity did so . And Ezra the priest , with certain chief of the fathers , after the house of their fathers , and all of them by their names , were separated , and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter . * And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month .

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