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.”

Salutation

1 Paul, ^(A)a bond-servant of God and an ^(B)apostle of Jesus Christ, ^[a]for the faith of those ^(C)chosen of God and ^(D)the knowledge of the truth which is ^(E)according to godliness, ² in ^(F)the hope of eternal life, which God, ^(G)who cannot lie, ^(H)promised ^[b](I)long ages ago, ³ but ^(J)at the proper time revealed His word in ^(K)the proclamation ^(L)with which I was entrusted ^(M)according to the commandment of ^(N)God our Savior;

⁴ To ^(O)Titus, ^(P)my true ^[c]son ^[d]in a ^(Q)common faith: ^(R)Grace and peace from God the Father and ^(S)Christ Jesus our Savior.

Qualifications of Elders

⁵ For this reason I left you in ^(T)Crete, that you would set in order what remains and ^(U)appoint ^(V)elders in every city as I directed you, ⁶ namely, ^(W)if any man is beyond reproach, the ^(X)husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of ^(Y)indecent behavior or ^(Z)rebellion. ⁷ For the ^[e](AA)overseer must be beyond reproach as ^(AB)God’s steward, not ^(AC)self-willed, not quick-tempered, not ^(AD)overindulging in wine, not ^[f]a bully, ^(AE)not greedy for money, ⁸ but ^(AF)hospitable, ^(AG)loving what is good, self-controlled, righteous, holy, disciplined, ^9 (AH)holding firmly the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to ^[g]exhort in ^(AI)sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.

^10 (AJ)For there are many ^(AK)rebellious people, ^(AL)empty talkers and deceivers, especially ^(AM)those of the circumcision, ¹¹ who must be silenced because they are upsetting ^(AN)whole families, teaching ^(AO)things they should not teach ^(AP)for the sake of ^[h]dishonest gain. ¹² One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “^(AQ)Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true. For this reason ^(AR)reprimand them ^(AS)severely so that they may be ^(AT)sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not paying attention to Jewish ^(AU)myths and ^(AV)commandments of men who ^(AW)turn away from the truth. ^15 (AX)To the pure, all things are pure; but ^(AY)to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their ^(AZ)mind and their conscience are defiled. ^16 (BA)They profess to know God, but by their deeds they ^(BB)deny Him, being ^(BC)detestable and ^(BD)disobedient and ^(BE)worthless ^(BF)for any good deed.

Proclaim Sound Doctrine

2 But as for you, proclaim the things which are fitting for ^(BG)sound doctrine. ^2 (BH)Older men are to be ^[i](BI)temperate, dignified, self-controlled, ^(BJ)sound ^(BK)in faith, in love, in ^[j]perseverance.

³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, ^(BL)not malicious gossips nor ^(BM)enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, ⁴ so that they may ^[k]encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be sensible, pure, ^(BN)workers at home, kind, being ^(BO)subject to their own husbands, ^(BP)so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

⁶ Likewise urge ^(BQ)the young men to be ^[l]sensible; ⁷ in all things show yourself to be ^(BR)an example of good deeds, with ^[m]purity in doctrine, dignified, ⁸ sound in speech which is beyond reproach, ^(BS)so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

Reconciliation with God

10 Now ^(A)while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself ^(B)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, “^(C)We have been unfaithful to our God and have ^[a]married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³ So now ^(D)let’s make a covenant with our God to send away all the wives and ^[b](E)their children, following the counsel of ^[c]my lord and of ^(F)those who fear the commandment of our God; and let it be done ^(G)according to the Law. ⁴ Arise! For this matter is ^[d]your responsibility, but we will be with you; ^(H)be courageous and act.”

⁵ Then Ezra stood and ^(I)made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel take an oath that they would do according to this ^[e]proposal; so they took the oath. ⁶ Then Ezra ^(J)rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, ^(K)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, ^(L)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, ^(M)make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and ^(N)do His will; and ^(O)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 ^[f]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 ^[g]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 ^(P)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 ^[h]opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

¹⁶ But the exiles did so. And ^[i]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 ^[j]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 ^(Q)Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. ¹⁹ They ^[k]pledged to send away their wives, and being guilty, ^(R)they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.

A New and Living Way

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we ^(A)have confidence to ^(B)enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by ^(C)a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through ^(D)the veil, that is, through His flesh, ²¹ and since we have ^(E)a great priest ^(F)over the house of God, ²² let’s ^(G)approach God with a ^[a]sincere heart in ^(H)full assurance of faith, having our hearts ^(I)sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies ^(J)washed with pure water. ²³ Let’s hold firmly to the ^(K)confession of our ^(L)hope without wavering, for ^(M)He who promised is faithful; ²⁴ and let’s consider how ^(N)to ^[b]encourage one another in love and ^(O)good deeds, ²⁵ not abandoning our own ^(P)meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but ^(Q)encouraging one another; and all the more as you see ^(R)the day drawing near.

Christ or Judgment

²⁶ For if we go on ^(S)sinning willfully after receiving ^(T)the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a terrifying expectation of ^(U)judgment and ^(V)the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. ^28 (W)Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ^29 (X)How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve ^(Y)who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean ^(Z)the blood of the covenant ^(AA)by which he was sanctified, and has ^(AB)insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, “^(AC)Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “^(AD)The Lord will judge His people.” ³¹ It is a ^(AE)terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the ^(AF)living God.

³² But remember ^(AG)the former days, ^[c]when, after being ^(AH)enlightened, you endured a great ^(AI)conflict of sufferings, ³³ partly by being ^(AJ)made a public spectacle through insults and distress, and partly by becoming ^[d](AK)companions with those who were so treated. ³⁴ For you ^(AL)showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted ^(AM)joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves ^(AN)a better and lasting possession. ³⁵ Therefore, do not throw away your ^(AO)confidence, which has a great ^(AP)reward. ³⁶ For you have need of ^(AQ)endurance, so that when you have ^(AR)done the will of God, you may ^(AS)receive ^[e]what was promised.

³⁹ But ^[f]we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith for the safekeeping of the soul.