Ezra 9:4-15
New American Standard Bible
4 Then (A)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 [a]appalled until (B)the evening offering.
Prayer of Confession
5 But at the evening offering I stood up from my [b]humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I bowed down on my knees and (C)spread out my [c]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 [d]risen above our heads, and our (D)guilt has grown even to the heavens. 7 (E)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 [e](F)open shame, as it is this day. 8 But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, (G)to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a [f](H)peg in His holy place, so that our God may (I)enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. 9 (J)For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not abandoned us, but (K)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 (L)with their impurity. 12 So now do not (M)give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons, and (N)never seek their peace or their prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, and (O)leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ 13 And after everything that has come upon us for our evil deeds and (P)our great guilt, since You our God have spared us by inflicting less than our wrongdoing deserves, and have given us such (Q)an escaped remnant as this, 14 (R)shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples [g]who commit these abominations? (S)Would You not be angry with us [h]to the point of destruction, until there would be no remnant nor any who would escape? 15 Lord God of Israel, (T)You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in (U)our guilt, for (V)no one can stand before You because of this.”
Read full chapter
Ezra 9:4-15
Common English Bible
4 Then all those who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me on account of the transgression of the returned exiles while I remained sitting in shock until the evening sacrifice.
Ezra prays
5 At the time of the evening sacrifice, I ended my penitential acts. While still wearing[a] my torn clothes and cloak, I fell upon my knees, spread out my hands to the Lord my God, 6 and said,
“My God, I’m too ashamed to lift up my face to you. Our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown to the heavens.
7 “From the days of our ancestors to this day, we’ve been deep in guilt. On account of our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as is now the case.
8 “But now, for a brief while the Lord our God has shown favor in leaving us survivors and in giving us a stake in his holy place. Our God cheered us[b] and revived us for a little while in our slavery. 9 Even though we are slaves, our God hasn’t abandoned us in our slavery. Instead, he’s shown us his graciousness before Persia’s kings by reviving us to set up our God’s house, to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judea and Jerusalem.
10 “And now, our God, what will we say after this? We have abandoned your commandments, 11 which you commanded through your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land which you are about to enter to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of the neighboring peoples.[c] Their detestable practices have filled it with uncleanness from end to end. 12 So now, do not give your daughters to their sons in marriage, do not take their sons for your daughters to marry, and never seek their peace or prosperity. This is so you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’
13 “After all that has happened to us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt—although you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have allowed us to survive as we do— 14 will we once again break your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who practice these detestable things? Would you not be so angry with us that you leave us without remnant or survivor? 15 Lord, God of Israel, you are righteous, for we have survived and a few remain until now. Here we are before you in our guilt, though no one can face you because of this guilt.”[d]
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible