⁹ So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and ^(A)all the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of heavy rain. ¹⁰ Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have ^[a]transgressed and ^[b]have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ Now therefore, ^(B)make confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; ^(C)separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives.”

¹² Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “Yes! As you have said, so we must do. ¹³ But there are many people; it is the season for heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor is this the work of one or two days, for there are many of us who have transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴ Please, let the leaders of our entire assembly stand; and let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until ^(D)the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and ^(E)Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite gave them support.

¹⁶ Then the descendants of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain ^(F)heads of the fathers’ households, were set apart by the fathers’ households, each of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.