Ezra 8:21-9:15
New American Standard Bible
Protection of God Invoked
21 Then I proclaimed (A)a fast there at (B)the river of Ahava, to (C)humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a [a]safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. 22 For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to [b]protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “(D)The hand of our God is [c]favorably disposed to all who seek Him, but (E)His power and His anger are against all those who (F)abandon Him.” 23 So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He [d](G)listened to our pleading.
24 Then I selected twelve of the leading priests: (H)Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers; 25 and I (I)weighed out to them (J)the silver, the gold, and the utensils, the offering for the house of our God which the king, (K)his counselors, his officials, and all Israel who were present there had contributed. 26 (L)So I weighed into their hands [e]650 talents of silver, and silver utensils worth [f]a hundred talents, and a hundred gold talents, 27 and twenty gold bowls worth a thousand [g]darics, and two utensils of fine shiny bronze, precious as gold. 28 Then I said to them, “(M)You are holy to the Lord, and the (N)utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a [h]voluntary offering to the Lord God of your fathers. 29 Watch and keep them (O)until you weigh them before the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of the fathers’ households of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord.” 30 So the priests and the Levites (P)accepted the weight of silver and gold and the utensils, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.
31 Then we journeyed from (Q)the river Ahava on (R)the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and (S)the hand of our God was upon us, and He rescued us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the road. 32 (T)So we came to Jerusalem and remained there for three days.
Treasure Placed in the Temple
33 And on the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the utensils (U)were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of (V)Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. 34 A notation was made for everything by number and weight, and all the weight was recorded at that time.
35 (W)The exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: (X)twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to the Lord. 36 Then (Y)they delivered the king’s edicts to (Z)the king’s satraps and the governors in the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, and they supported the people and the house of God.
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 (AA)separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, (AB)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 (AC)they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that (AD)the holy [i]race has (AE)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 (AF)tore my garment and my robe, and pulled out some of the hair from my head and my beard, and (AG)sat down [j]appalled. 4 Then (AH)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 [k]appalled until (AI)the evening offering.
Prayer of Confession
5 But at the evening offering I stood up from my [l]humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I bowed down on my knees and (AJ)spread out my [m]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 [n]risen above our heads, and our (AK)guilt has grown even to the heavens. 7 (AL)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 [o](AM)open shame, as it is this day. 8 But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, (AN)to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a [p](AO)peg in His holy place, so that our God may (AP)enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. 9 (AQ)For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not abandoned us, but (AR)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 (AS)with their impurity. 12 So now do not (AT)give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons, and (AU)never seek their peace or their prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, and (AV)leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ 13 And after everything that has come upon us for our evil deeds and (AW)our great guilt, since You our God have spared us by inflicting less than our wrongdoing deserves, and have given us such (AX)an escaped remnant as this, 14 (AY)shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples [q]who commit these abominations? (AZ)Would You not be angry with us [r]to the point of destruction, until there would be no remnant nor any who would escape? 15 Lord God of Israel, (BA)You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in (BB)our guilt, for (BC)no one can stand before You because of this.”
Footnotes
- Ezra 8:21 Lit smooth way
- Ezra 8:22 Lit help
- Ezra 8:22 Lit upon all...for good
- Ezra 8:23 Lit was entreated by us
- Ezra 8:26 About 24 tons or 22 metric tons
- Ezra 8:26 About 3.75 tons or 3.4 metric tons
- Ezra 8:27 A coin weighing about 0.25 oz. or 7 gm
- Ezra 8:28 Or freewill offering
- Ezra 9:2 Lit seed
- Ezra 9:3 Or shattered
- Ezra 9:4 Or shattered
- Ezra 9:5 Or penitence
- Ezra 9:5 Lit palms
- Ezra 9:6 Lit increased over the head
- Ezra 9:7 Lit shame of faces
- Ezra 9:8 I.e., a foothold
- Ezra 9:14 Lit of these abominations
- Ezra 9:14 Lit to destroy
Ezra 8:21-9:15
New Living Translation
21 And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen[a] to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.” 23 So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.
24 I appointed twelve leaders of the priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten other priests— 25 to be in charge of transporting the silver, the gold, the gold bowls, and the other items that the king, his council, his officials, and all the people of Israel had presented for the Temple of God. 26 I weighed the treasure as I gave it to them and found the totals to be as follows:
24 tons[b] of silver,
7,500 pounds[c] of silver articles,
7,500 pounds of gold,
27 20 gold bowls, equal in value to 1,000 gold coins,[d]
2 fine articles of polished bronze, as precious as gold.
28 And I said to these priests, “You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the Lord. This silver and gold is a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. 29 Guard these treasures well until you present them to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel, who will weigh them at the storerooms of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem.” 30 So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting these treasures of silver and gold to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem.
31 We broke camp at the Ahava Canal on April 19[e] and started off to Jerusalem. And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from enemies and bandits along the way. 32 So we arrived safely in Jerusalem, where we rested for three days.
33 On the fourth day after our arrival, the silver, gold, and other valuables were weighed at the Temple of our God and entrusted to Meremoth son of Uriah the priest and to Eleazar son of Phinehas, along with Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui—both of whom were Levites. 34 Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the total weight was officially recorded.
35 Then the exiles who had come out of captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel. They presented twelve bulls for all the people of Israel, as well as ninety-six rams and seventy-seven male lambs. They also offered twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was given as a burnt offering to the Lord. 36 The king’s decrees were delivered to his highest officers and the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River,[f] who then cooperated by supporting the people and the Temple of God.
Ezra’s Prayer concerning Intermarriage
9 When these things had been done, the Jewish leaders came to me and said, “Many of the people of Israel, and even some of the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land. They have taken up the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. 2 For the men of Israel have married women from these people and have taken them as wives for their sons. So the holy race has become polluted by these mixed marriages. Worse yet, the leaders and officials have led the way in this outrage.”
3 When I heard this, I tore my cloak and my shirt, pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down utterly shocked. 4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel came and sat with me because of this outrage committed by the returned exiles. And I sat there utterly appalled until the time of the evening sacrifice.
5 At the time of the sacrifice, I stood up from where I had sat in mourning with my clothes torn. I fell to my knees and lifted my hands to the Lord my God. 6 I prayed,
“O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our ancestors until now, we have been steeped in sin. That is why we and our kings and our priests have been at the mercy of the pagan kings of the land. We have been killed, captured, robbed, and disgraced, just as we are today.
8 “But now we have been given a brief moment of grace, for the Lord our God has allowed a few of us to survive as a remnant. He has given us security in this holy place. Our God has brightened our eyes and granted us some relief from our slavery. 9 For we were slaves, but in his unfailing love our God did not abandon us in our slavery. Instead, he caused the kings of Persia to treat us favorably. He revived us so we could rebuild the Temple of our God and repair its ruins. He has given us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
10 “And now, O our God, what can we say after all of this? For once again we have abandoned your commands! 11 Your servants the prophets warned us when they said, ‘The land you are entering to possess is totally defiled by the detestable practices of the people living there. From one end to the other, the land is filled with corruption. 12 Don’t let your daughters marry their sons! Don’t take their daughters as wives for your sons. Don’t ever promote the peace and prosperity of those nations. If you follow these instructions, you will be strong and will enjoy the good things the land produces, and you will leave this prosperity to your children forever.’
13 “Now we are being punished because of our wickedness and our great guilt. But we have actually been punished far less than we deserve, for you, our God, have allowed some of us to survive as a remnant. 14 But even so, we are again breaking your commands and intermarrying with people who do these detestable things. Won’t your anger be enough to destroy us, so that even this little remnant no longer survives? 15 O Lord, God of Israel, you are just. We come before you in our guilt as nothing but an escaped remnant, though in such a condition none of us can stand in your presence.”
Footnotes
- 8:22 Or charioteers.
- 8:26a Hebrew 650 talents [22 metric tons].
- 8:26b Hebrew 100 talents [3,400 kilograms]; also in 8:26c.
- 8:27 Hebrew 1,000 darics, about 19 pounds or 8.6 kilograms in weight.
- 8:31 Hebrew on the twelfth day of the first month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was April 19, 458 B.c.; also see note on 6:15.
- 8:36 Hebrew the province beyond the river.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
