Book of Common Prayer

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.

¹⁰ When the governor motioned for Sha’ul to speak, he replied, “I know that you have been judge over this nation for a number of years, so I am glad to make my defense. ¹¹ As you can verify for yourself, it has not been more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Yerushalayim; ¹² and neither in the Temple nor in the synagogues nor anywhere else in the city did they find me either arguing with anyone or collecting a crowd. ¹³ Nor can they give any proof of the things of which they are accusing me.

¹⁴ “But this I do admit to you: I worship the God of our fathers^[a] in accordance with the Way (which they call a sect). I continue to believe everything that accords with the Torah and everything written in the Prophets. ¹⁵ And I continue to have a hope in God — which they too accept — that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶ Indeed, it is because of this that I make a point of always having a clear conscience in the sight of both God and man.

¹⁷ “After an absence of several years, I came to Yerushalayim to bring a charitable gift to my nation and to offer sacrifices. ¹⁸ It was in connection with the latter that they found me in the Temple. I had been ceremonially purified, I was not with a crowd, and I was not causing a disturbance. ¹⁹ But some Jews from the province of Asia — they ought to be here before you to make a charge if they have anything against me! ²⁰ Or else, let these men themselves say what crime they found me guilty of when I stood in front of the Sanhedrin, ²¹ other than this one thing which I shouted out when I was standing among them: ‘I am on trial before you today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead!’”

¹² Yeshua also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives or rich neighbors; for they may well invite you in return, and that will be your repayment. ¹³ Instead, when you have a party, invite poor people, disfigured people, the crippled, the blind! ¹⁴ How blessed you will be that they have nothing with which to repay you! For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ On hearing this, one of the people at the table with Yeshua said to him, “How blessed are those who eat bread in the Kingdom of God!” ¹⁶ But he replied, “Once a man gave a banquet and invited many people. ¹⁷ When the time came for the banquet, he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come! Everything is ready!’ ¹⁸ But they responded with a chorus of excuses. The first said to him, ‘I’ve just bought a field, and I have to go out and see it. Please accept my apologies.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I’ve just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to test them out. Please accept my apologies.’ ²⁰ Still another said, ‘I have just gotten married, so I can’t come.’ ²¹ The slave came and reported these things to his master.

“Then the owner of the house, in a rage, told his slave, ‘Quick, go out into the streets and alleys of the city; and bring in the poor, the disfigured, the blind and the crippled!’ ²² The slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ ²³ The master said to the slave, ‘Go out to the country roads and boundary walls, and insistently persuade people to come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet!’”