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.

Introduction

1 The first account I ^[a]composed, ^(A)Theophilus, about all that Jesus ^(B)began to do and teach, ² until the day when He ^(C)was taken up to heaven, after He ^(D)had given orders ^[b]by the Holy Spirit to ^(E)the apostles whom He had ^(F)chosen. ³ To ^[c]these ^(G)He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of ^(H)things regarding the kingdom of God. ^4 [d]Gathering them together, He commanded them ^(I)not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for ^[e](J)what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; ⁵ for ^(K)John baptized ^[f]with water, but you will be baptized ^[g]with the Holy Spirit ^[h](L)not many days from now.”

⁶ So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, ^(M)is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which ^(N)the Father has set by His own authority; ⁸ but you will receive power ^(O)when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be ^(P)My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and ^(Q)Samaria, and as far as ^(R)the remotest part of the earth.”

The Ascension

⁹ And after He had said these things, ^(S)He was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight. ¹⁰ And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, ^(T)two men in white clothing stood beside them, ¹¹ and they said, “^(U)Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who ^(V)has been taken up from you into heaven, will ^(W)come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

The Upper Room

¹² Then they ^(X)returned to Jerusalem from the ^[i](Y)mountain called ^[j]Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a ^[k]Sabbath day’s journey away. ¹³ When they had entered the city, they went up to ^(Z)the upstairs room where they were staying, that is, ^(AA)Peter, John, ^[l]James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, ^[m]James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and ^(AB)Judas the ^[n]son of ^[o]James. ¹⁴ All these ^(AC)were continually devoting themselves with one ^[p]mind to prayer, along with ^(AD)the women, and Mary the ^(AE)mother of Jesus, and with His ^(AF)brothers.

^15 [q]At this time Peter stood up among ^(AG)the brothers and sisters (a group of about 120 ^[r]people was there together), and said, ¹⁶ “^[s]Brothers, ^(AH)the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, ^(AI)who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷ For he was ^(AJ)counted among us and received his share in ^(AK)this ministry.” ¹⁸ (Now this man ^(AL)acquired a field with ^(AM)the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. ¹⁹ And it became known to all the residents of Jerusalem; as a result that field was called Hakeldama in ^(AN)their own language, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰ “For it is written in the book of Psalms:

and,

²¹ Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that ^(AQ)the Lord Jesus went in and out ^[u]among us— ^22 (AR)beginning ^[v]with the baptism of John until the day that He ^(AS)was taken up from us—one of these must become a ^(AT)witness with us of His resurrection.” ²³ So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and ^(AU)Matthias. ²⁴ And they ^(AV)prayed and said, “You, Lord, who ^(AW)know the hearts of all people, show which one of these two You have chosen ²⁵ to ^[w]occupy ^(AX)this ministry and ^(AY)apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶ And they ^[x](AZ)drew lots for them, and the lot fell ^[y]to ^(BA)Matthias; and he was added to ^(BB)the eleven apostles.