9 After these things had been done, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Isra’el, the cohanim and the L’vi’im have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands and their disgusting practices — the Kena‘ani, Hitti, P’rizi, Y’vusi, ‘Amoni, Mo’avi, Egyptians and Emori. ² They have taken some of the women from these nations as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has assimilated to the peoples of the lands; moreover, the officials and leaders have been the main offenders in this treachery.” ³ When I heard this, I tore my robe and tunic, pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down in shock. ⁴ All who trembled at the words of the God of Isra’el assembled around me when confronted with the treachery of these exiles; and I sat there in shock until the evening offering.

⁵ At the evening offering, with my cloak and tunic torn, I got up from afflicting myself, fell on my knees, spread out my hands to Adonai my God, ⁶ and said, “My God, I am ashamed. I blush to lift my face to you, my God! For our sins tower over our heads; our guilt reaches up to heaven. ⁷ Since the times of our ancestors, we have been deeply guilty; and because of our sins, we, our kings and our cohanim have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to exile, to pillage and to disgrace, as is the case today. ⁸ Now, for a brief moment, Adonai our God has shown us the favor of allowing a remnant to escape and giving us a secure foothold in his holy place, in order for God to make things look brighter to us and revive us a little in our slavery. ⁹ For we are slaves. Yet our God has not abandoned us in our slavery, but has caused the kings of Persia to extend grace to us, reviving us, so that we can rebuild the house of our God, repair its ruins, and have a wall of defense in Y’hudah and Yerushalayim.

¹⁰ “But now, our God, what are we to say after this? For we have abandoned your mitzvot, ¹¹ which you gave us through your servants the prophets when they said, ‘The land which you are going to in order to take possession of it is a land defiled by the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, because of their disgusting practices, which have filled it with their filth from one end to the other. ¹² Therefore, you are not to give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons; and you are not to promote their peace or prosperity ever. Only in this way will you grow strong, enjoy the good things of the land and leave it as a lasting inheritance to your children.’ ¹³ Now, after all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our deep guilt — and even so, you, our God, have punished us less than our sins deserve and have given us a surviving remnant — ¹⁴ are we to break your mitzvot again by making marriages with the peoples who have these disgusting practices? Won’t you become so angry with us that you would destroy us completely, so that there would be no surviving remnant and no one who escapes? ¹⁵ Adonai, God of Isra’el! You are just; yet we have been left a surviving remnant that has escaped, as is the case today. Look, we are before you in our guilt; because of it, no one can stand in your presence.”

10 While ‘Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrated before the house of God, a huge crowd of Isra’el’s men, women and children gathered around him; and the people were weeping bitterly. ² Sh’khanyah the son of Yechi’el, one of the descendants of ‘Eilam, spoke up and said to ‘Ezra, “We have acted treacherously toward our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples of the land. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Isra’el. ³ We should make a covenant with our God to send away all these wives, along with their children, in obedience to the advice of Adonai and of those who tremble at the mitzvah of our God; let us act in accordance with the Torah. ⁴ Stand up, and do your duty, for we are with you; take courage, and do it!”

⁵ ‘Ezra stood up, and he made the chief cohanim, the L’vi’im and all Isra’el swear that they would act according to what had been said; and they took the oath. ⁶ ‘Ezra then left his place in front of the house of God and went to the room of Y’hochanan the son of Elyashiv. After going there, he neither ate food nor drank water; because he was mourning over the treachery of the exiles.

⁷ A proclamation was issued throughout Y’hudah and Yerushalayim that all the exiles were to assemble in Yerushalayim; ⁸ and that whoever didn’t come within three days, in answer to the summons from the officials and leaders, would forfeit all he owned and himself be banished from the community of the exiles. ⁹ All the men of Y’hudah and Binyamin assembled in Yerushalayim within the three days. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month. All the people sat in the open place in front of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain. ¹⁰ ‘Ezra the cohen stood up and addressed them: “You have acted treacherously by marrying foreign women and have thus increased Isra’el’s guilt. ¹¹ Now, therefore, make confession to Adonai, the God of your ancestors; and do what will please him by separating yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.” ¹² In response, the whole assembly cried aloud, “Yes, our duty is to do as you have said. ¹³ But there are many people, and it’s the rainy season — we can’t stay out here in the open. Also, it isn’t the work of a day or two; for there are many of us who have committed this crime. ¹⁴ Let our leaders represent the whole community; and let all those in our cities who have married foreign women appear at prearranged times, accompanied by the elders and judges of each city; until our God’s fierce anger over this has been turned away from us.” ¹⁵ Only Yonatan the son of ‘Asah’el and Yachz’yah the son of Tikvah, supported by Meshulam and Shabtai the Levi, opposed this.

¹⁶ The exiles did as agreed. ‘Ezra the cohen chose heads of fathers’ clans by name, and they began their sessions to look into the matter on the first day of the tenth month. ¹⁷ They finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month.

¹⁸ Among the cohanim were found these who had married foreign women: of the sons of Yeshua the son of Yotzadak and his brothers: Ma‘aseiyah, Eli‘ezer, Yariv and G’dalyah. ¹⁹ They promised that they would send their wives away; and since they were guilty, they offered a ram from the flock for their guilt. ²⁰ Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Z’vadyah; ²¹ of the sons of Harim: Ma‘aseiyah, Eliyah, Sh’ma‘yah, Yechi’el and ‘Uziyah; ²² of the sons of Pash’chur: Elyo‘einai, Ma‘aseiyah, Yishma‘el, N’tan’el, Yozavad and El‘asah.

²³ Of the L’vi’im: Yozavad, Shim‘i, K’layah (also known as K’lita), P’tachyah, Y’hudah and Eli‘ezer.

²⁴ Of the singers: Elyashiv.

Of the gatekeepers: Shalum, Telem and Uri.

²⁵ Of Isra’el: of the descendants of Par‘osh: Ramyah, Yizziyah, Malkiyah, Miyamin, El‘azar, Malkiyah and B’nayah; ²⁶ of the descendants of ‘Eilam: Mattanyah, Z’kharyah, Yechi’el, ‘Avdi, Yeremot and Eliyah; ²⁷ of the descendants of Zatu: Elyo‘einai, Elyashiv, Mattanyah, Yeremot, Zavad and ‘Aziza; ²⁸ of the descendants of B’vai: Y’hochanan, Hananyah, Zabai and ‘Atlai; ²⁹ of the descendants of Bani: Meshulam, Malukh, ‘Adayah, Yashuv, Sh’al and Ramot; ³⁰ of the descendants of Pachat-Mo’av: ‘Adna, K’lal, B’nayah, Ma‘aseiyah, Mattanyah, B’tzal’el, Binui and M’nasheh; ³¹ of the descendants of Harim: Eli‘ezer, Yishiyah, Malkiyah, Sh’ma‘yah, Shim‘on, ³² Binyamin, Malukh, and Sh’maryah; ³³ of the descendants of Hashum: Matnai, Matatah, Zavad, Elifelet, Yeremai, M’nasheh and Shim‘i; ³⁴ of the descendants of Bani: Ma‘adai, ‘Amram, U’el, ³⁵ B’nayah, Bedyah, K’luhu, ³⁶ Vanyah, M’remot, Elyashiv, ³⁷ Mattanyah, Matnai, Ya‘asai, ³⁸ Bani, Binui, Shim‘i, ³⁹ Shelemyah, Natan, ‘Adayah, ⁴⁰ Makhnavdai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹ ‘Azar’el, Shelemyah, Sh’maryah, ⁴² Shalum, Amaryah and Yosef; and ⁴³ of the descendants of N’vo: Ye‘i’el, Mattityah, Zavad, Z’vina, Yadai, Yo’el and B’nayah.

⁴⁴ All these had taken foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had had children.

1 Dear Theophilos:

In the first book, I wrote about everything Yeshua set out to do and teach, ² until the day when, after giving instructions through the Ruach HaKodesh to the emissaries whom he had chosen, he was taken up into heaven.

³ After his death he showed himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. During a period of forty days they saw him, and he spoke with them about the Kingdom of God.

⁴ At one of these gatherings, he instructed them not to leave Yerushalayim but to wait for “what the Father promised, which you heard about from me. ⁵ For Yochanan used to immerse people in water; but in a few days, you will be immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh!”

⁶ When they were together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore self-rule to Isra’el?” ⁷ He answered, “You don’t need to know the dates or the times; the Father has kept these under his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y’hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!”

⁹ After saying this, he was taken up before their eyes; and a cloud hid him from their sight. ¹⁰ As they were staring into the sky after him, suddenly they saw two men dressed in white standing next to them. ¹¹ The men said, “You Galileans! Why are you standing, staring into space? This Yeshua, who has been taken away from you into heaven, will come back to you in just the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

¹² Then they returned the Shabbat-walk distance from the Mount of Olives to Yerushalayim. ¹³ After entering the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. The names of the emissaries were Kefa, Ya‘akov, Yochanan, Andrew, Philip, T’oma, Bar-Talmai, Mattityahu, Ya‘akov Ben-Halfai, Shim‘on “the Zealot,” and Y’hudah Ben-Ya‘akov. ¹⁴ These all devoted themselves single-mindedly to prayer, along with some women, including Miryam (Yeshua’s mother), and his brothers.

¹⁵ During this period, when the group of believers numbered about 120, Kefa stood up and addressed his fellow-believers: ¹⁶ “Brothers, the Ruach HaKodesh spoke in advance through David about Y’hudah, and these words of the Tanakh had to be fulfilled. He was guide for those who arrested Yeshua — ¹⁷ he was one of us and had been assigned a part in our work.” ¹⁸ (With the money Y’hudah received for his evil deed, he bought a field; and there he fell to his death. His body swelled up and burst open, and all his insides spilled out. ¹⁹ This became known to everyone in Yerushalayim, so they called that field Hakal-D’ma — which in their language means “Field of Blood”). ²⁰ “Now,” said Kefa, “it is written in the book of Psalms,

²¹ Therefore, one of the men who have been with us continuously throughout the time the Lord Yeshua traveled around among us, ²² from the time Yochanan was immersing people until the day Yeshua was taken up from us — one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.”

²³ They nominated two men — Yosef Bar-Sabba, surnamed Justus, and Mattityahu. ²⁴ Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen ²⁵ to take over the work and the office of emissary that Y’hudah abandoned to go where he belongs.” ²⁶ Then they drew lots to decide between the two, and the lot fell to Mattityahu. So he was added to the eleven emissaries.