Intermarriage with Pagans

9 When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ^(A)separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ^(B)with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

² And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, “We have ^(A)trespassed^[a] against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.

²³ In those days I also saw Jews who ^(A)had married women of ^(B)Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.