Mixed Marriages

9 Now when these things had been completed, the officials approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ^(A)separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ^(B)as to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ² For ^(C)they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that ^(D)the holy ^[a]race has ^(E)intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the officials and the leaders have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness.” ³ When I heard about this matter, I ^(F)tore my garment and my robe, and pulled out some of the hair from my head and my beard, and ^(G)sat down ^[b]appalled. ⁴ Then ^(H)everyone who was frightened by the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat ^[c]appalled until ^(I)the evening offering.

Prayer of Confession

⁵ But at the evening offering I stood up from my ^[d]humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I bowed down on my knees and ^(J)spread out my ^[e]hands to the Lord my God; ⁶ and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God, for our wrongful deeds have ^[f]risen above our heads, and our ^(K)guilt has grown even to the heavens. ^7 (L)Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and because of our wrongful deeds we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to ^[g](M)open shame, as it is this day. ⁸ But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, ^(N)to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a ^[h](O)peg in His holy place, so that our God may ^(P)enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. ^9 (Q)For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not abandoned us, but ^(R)has extended favor to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to erect the house of our God, to restore its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have abandoned Your commandments, ¹¹ which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end, and ^(S)with their impurity. ¹² So now do not ^(T)give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons, and ^(U)never seek their peace or their prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, and ^(V)leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ ¹³ And after everything that has come upon us for our evil deeds and ^(W)our great guilt, since You our God have spared us by inflicting less than our wrongdoing deserves, and have given us such ^(X)an escaped remnant as this, ^14 (Y)shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples ^[i]who commit these abominations? ^(Z)Would You not be angry with us ^[j]to the point of destruction, until there would be no remnant nor any who would escape? ¹⁵ Lord God of Israel, ^(AA)You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in ^(AB)our guilt, for ^(AC)no one can stand before You because of this.”

Reconciliation with God

10 Now ^(AD)while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself ^(AE)before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women, and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept greatly. ² Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “^(AF)We have been unfaithful to our God and have ^[k]married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³ So now ^(AG)let’s make a covenant with our God to send away all the wives and ^[l](AH)their children, following the counsel of ^[m]my lord and of ^(AI)those who fear the commandment of our God; and let it be done ^(AJ)according to the Law. ⁴ Arise! For this matter is ^[n]your responsibility, but we will be with you; ^(AK)be courageous and act.”

⁵ Then Ezra stood and ^(AL)made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel take an oath that they would do according to this ^[o]proposal; so they took the oath. ⁶ Then Ezra ^(AM)rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, ^(AN)he did not eat bread nor drink water, because he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. ⁷ So they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they were to assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that whoever did not come within three days, in accordance with the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his property would be forfeited, and he himself would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

⁹ So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the public square before the house of God, ^(AO)trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. ¹⁰ Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ Now therefore, ^(AP)make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and ^(AQ)do His will; and ^(AR)separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹² Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, “It is ^[p]our duty to do exactly as you have said! ¹³ However, there are many people, it is the rainy season, and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, because we have done a great wrong in this matter. ¹⁴ Please let our leaders ^[q]represent all the assembly and have all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the ^(AS)fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah ^[r]opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

¹⁶ But the exiles did so. And ^[s]Ezra the priest selected men who were the heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they ^[t]convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. ¹⁷ And they finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

List of Offenders

¹⁸ Now among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of ^(AT)Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. ¹⁹ They ^[u]pledged to send away their wives, and being guilty, ^(AU)they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt. ²⁰ Of the sons of Immer, there were Hanani and Zebadiah; ²¹ and of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah; ²² and of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³ Of the Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

²⁴ Of the singers there was Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵ Of Israel, of the sons of ^(AV)Parosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah; ²⁶ and of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah; ²⁷ and of the sons of ^(AW)Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza; ²⁸ and of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai; ²⁹ and of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth; ³⁰ and of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh; ³¹ and of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, ^(AX)Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, ³² Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah; ³³ of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei; ³⁴ of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, ³⁵ Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, ³⁶ Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷ Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu, ³⁸ Bani, Binnui, Shimei, ³⁹ Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, ⁴⁰ Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹ Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴² Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph. ⁴³ Of the sons of ^(AY)Nebo there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah. ⁴⁴ All of these men had married ^(AZ)foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

Childlike Trust in the Lord.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

The Widow’s Gift

21 ^(A)Now He looked up and saw the wealthy putting their gifts into the temple treasury. ² And He saw a poor widow putting ^[a]in ^(B)two ^[b]lepta coins. ³ And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; ⁴ for they all ^[c]contributed to the ^[d]offering from their ^[e]surplus; but she, from her poverty, put in all ^[f]that she had ^(C)to live on.”

^5 (D)And while some were talking about the temple, that it was decorated with beautiful stones and ^[g]vowed gifts, He said, ⁶ “As for these things which you are observing, the days will come when ^(E)there will not be left one stone upon ^[h]another, which will not be torn down.”

⁷ They asked Him questions, saying, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the ^[i]sign when these things are about to take place?” ⁸ And He said, “See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘^(F)I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ ^(G)Do not go after them. ⁹ And when you hear of wars and revolts, do not be alarmed; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.”

Things to Come

¹⁰ Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, ¹¹ and there will be ^[j]massive earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrible sights and great ^[k]signs from heaven.

¹² “But before all these things, ^(H)they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, turning you over to the synagogues and prisons, ^[l]bringing you before kings and governors on account of My name. ^13 (I)It will lead to ^[m]an opportunity for your testimony. ^14 (J)So ^[n]make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; ¹⁵ for ^(K)I will provide you ^[o]eloquence and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to oppose or refute. ¹⁶ But you will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, other relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death, ¹⁷ and you will be hated by all people because of My name. ¹⁸ And yet ^(L)not a hair of your head will perish. ^19 (M)By your endurance you will gain your ^[p]lives.

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem ^(N)surrounded by armies, then ^[q]recognize that her desolation is near. ²¹ Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are inside ^[r]the city must leave, and ^(O)those who are in the country must not enter ^[s]the city; ²² because these are ^(P)days of punishment, so that all things which have been written will be fulfilled. ²³ Woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for ^(Q)there will be great distress upon the ^[t]land, and wrath to this people; ²⁴ and they will fall by ^(R)the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and ^(S)Jerusalem will be ^(T)trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until ^(U)the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Return of Christ

²⁵ “There will be ^[u]signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, ²⁶ people fainting from fear and the expectation of the things that are coming upon the ^[v]world; for the powers of ^[w]the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ And ^(V)then they will see ^(W)the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because ^(X)your redemption is drawing near.”

²⁹ And He told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees: ³⁰ as soon as they put forth leaves, you see for yourselves and ^(Y)know that summer is now near. ³¹ So you too, when you see these things happening, ^[x]recognize that ^(Z)the kingdom of God is near. ³² Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place. ^33 (AA)Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁴ “But ^(AB)be on your guard, so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that ^[y]this day will not come on you suddenly, like a trap; ³⁵ for it will come upon all those who live on the face of all the earth. ³⁶ But ^(AC)stay alert at all times, praying that you will have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to ^(AD)stand before the Son of Man.”

³⁷ Now ^[z]during the day He was ^(AE)teaching in the temple, but ^[aa](AF)at evening He would go out and spend the night on ^(AG)the ^[ab]mountain that is called ^[ac]Olivet. ³⁸ And all the people would get up ^(AH)very early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.