1 Esdras 9:11-13

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

¹¹ But the multitude is great and it is winter, and we are not able to stand in the open air. This is not a work we can do in one day or two, for we have sinned too much in these things. ¹² So let the leaders of the multitude stay, and let all those in our settlements who have foreign wives come at the time appointed, ¹³ with the elders and judges of each place, until we are freed from the wrath of the Lord over this matter.’