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10 As Ezra was praying his confession and weeping and bowing on the steps of the True God’s temple, a huge group of Israelite men, women, and children joined him in weeping. 2 Shecaniah (son of Jehiel the Elamite) then spoke up.
Shecaniah and his family had returned to Jerusalem at the first opportunity 60 years earlier.
Shecaniah: You are right. We have forgotten our True God and have married foreign women from pagan nations. But there is hope for Israel yet. 3 We shall make a new covenant with our True God, promising to banish our foreign wives and their children. You and the others who follow the laws of our True God must guide us in this, so that we obey the law. 4 So stand up! Helping us follow the law is now your responsibility. Do not be afraid; we will support your actions.
5 So Ezra stood up and persuaded the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear an oath to banish their foreign wives and foreign children. When everyone had taken the oath, 6 he entered the temple chamber of Jehohanan (son of Eliashib) and continued mourning the exiles’ unfaithfulness by fasting from food and water.
7 Those who had sworn the oath sent letters declaring it throughout Judah and Jerusalem telling all the returned exiles to assemble in Jerusalem 8 within three days. The counsel of chiefs and elders agreed that anyone who was not here would forfeit all his possessions and his status within the assembly. 9 Not surprisingly, all the men from Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem within three days, in spite of the winter rains. On the twentieth day of the ninth month, everyone sat in the courtyard in front of the True God’s temple—shivering under the weighty matter and the heavy rain.
Ezra: 10 There is no doubt that you have abandoned His ways and have married foreign women, adding to the list of Israel’s sins. 11 Now you must confess these sins to the Eternal God of your ancestors and do as He pleases: break away from the pagan nations and your foreign wives.
Assembly (loudly): 12 You are right. We must do what you’ve told us to do. 13 But look around. There are too many people here to house in this city, and the rains will not allow us to stay outside for very long. Also our sins are too horrible to be adequately dealt with in a day or two. 14 Allow our chiefs to represent everyone in this assembly right now. Then each person in every city who has married a foreign woman can come back with his civic leaders at a scheduled time. We can then continue the inquiries until our True God withdraws His wrath from us about these sins.
Ezra is able to fulfill all of Artaxerxes’ requirements and ensure his support. He leads the inquiry into the Jews’ practice of God’s laws, and he selects tribal leaders as judges over their people. This story of the legal system may seem unimportant when compared to the sweeping cultic reforms of Josiah and Hezekiah, but it is a microcosm of Ezra’s work throughout Jerusalem and Judah. Throughout his reforms, Ezra focuses on God and takes deliberate steps to improve the nation’s relationship with Him.
15-16 With the exception of four men, Jonathan (son of Asahel), Jahzeiah (son of Tikvah), Meshullam, and Shabbethai (the Levite), everyone supported this plan. Ezra selected one leader from each tribe to represent his people and recorded their names. These tribal leaders then gathered on the first day of the tenth month to begin the inquiries. 17 By the first day of the first month, the investigations of all men who had married foreign women was finished, and the offenders were recorded.
18 These priests, from the family of the high priest, married foreign women: the descendants of Jeshua (son of Jozadak) and his brothers Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. 19 They were found guilty, promised to expel their wives, and offered a ram of the flock as penance.
20 From the other priestly families: Hanani and Zebadiah (descendants of Immer); 21 Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah (descendants of Harim); 22 Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah (descendants of Pashhur).
23 From the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
24 From the singers: Eliashib.
From the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.
25 From the laymen of Israel: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Hashabiah,[a] and Benaiah (descendants of Parosh); 26 Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah (descendants of Elam); 27 Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza (descendants of Zattu); 28 Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai (descendants of Bebai); 29 Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth (descendants of Bani); 30 Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh (descendants of Pahath-moab); 31-32 Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah (descendants of Harim); 33 Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei (descendants of Hashum); 34-42 Maadai, Amram, Uel, Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu (descendents of Bani); Shimei, Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph (descendants of Binnui); 43 Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah (descendants of Nebo).
44 All these men had married foreign women, and some had fathered children by them.
6 Here’s another troubling issue. If you have a grievance against another follower of Jesus, do you have the audacity to bring that brother or sister into the civil courts rather than submitting yourselves to the authority of God’s people? 2 Don’t you know that His people are destined to judge the world? If you have the authority to judge the world, can’t you handle these small matters and render a better judgment than the civil courts? 3 Further, don’t you know that we are destined to judge the heavenly messengers? So if we are to exercise authority in the heavenly realms, can’t we take care of the conflicts that arise in this life? 4 To put it another way, if you are asking the courts to adjudicate your mundane conflicts, aren’t you placing your problems under the authority of judges who have no standing within the church? 5 My words should embarrass you. Is it possible that you have no one among you with the wisdom to mediate between two siblings? 6 So one brother sues another brother in public and drags the dispute before outsiders who have no allegiance to Jesus?
7 The truth is that these public lawsuits cause all of you to lose and lose big. Wouldn’t it be better to be ripped off or defrauded? 8 In fact, you are guilty of ripping off and defrauding your own brothers and sisters, not the other way around.
9-10 Do you need reminding that the unjust have no share in the blessings of the kingdom of God? Do not be misled. A lot of people stand to inherit nothing of God’s coming kingdom, including those whose lives are defined by sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, sexual deviancy, theft, greed, drunkenness, slander, and swindling. 11 Some of you used to live in these ways, but you are different now; you have been washed clean, set apart, restored, and set on the right path in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Anointed, by the Spirit of our living God.
In the same way that some seek to reduce Christianity to a philosophy or a set of ideas, others seek to reduce it to a set of rules for living. If true faith is only about eating certain foods, abstaining from others, and avoiding certain practices, then willpower must be more important than the Spirit of God. But following stringent rules is not that easy. Actually, living by willpower is hard—some might say impossible. Paul is preaching about an alternative to a life governed by rules and restrictions, and that’s a life of faith that embraces grace. What Paul is about to describe is a life of freedom that surpasses a life of rule keeping.
12 I can hear some of you saying, “For me, all things are permitted.” But face the facts: all things are not beneficial. So you say, “For me, all things are permitted.” Here’s my response: I will not allow anything to control me. 13 Another chimes in: “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.” I suppose so, but a day will come when God will dispense with both food and the stomach. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord; the Lord is over all, and He cares about your body. 14 God has raised the Lord Jesus from death, but He won’t stop there. His dynamic power will raise us up from the grips of death as well. 15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are members of the Anointed One? So should I take the members of the Anointed One and unite them to a prostitute? This illicit union should never take place! 16 Don’t you understand that when your body is joined with a prostitute, the two of you have become one body? For as it says, “The two come together as one flesh.”[a] 17 But when you are joined with the Lord, you become one spirit with Him. 18 Run from immoral behavior. All other sins are disconnected from the body, but sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who comes from God and dwells inside of you? You do not own yourself. 20 You have been purchased at a great price, so use your body to bring glory to God!
9 Show me Your grace, Eternal One, for I am in a tight spot.
My eyes are aching with grief;
my body and soul are withering with miseries.
10 My life is devoured by sorrow,
and my years are haunted with mourning.
My sin has sapped me of all my strength;
my body withers under the weight of this suffering.
11 To all my enemies I am an object of scorn.
My neighbors especially are ashamed of me.
My friends are afraid to be seen with me.
When I walk down the street, people go out of their way to avoid me.
12 I am as good as dead to them. Forgotten!
Like a shattered clay pot, I am easily discarded and gladly replaced.
13 For I hear their whispered plans;
terror is everywhere!
They conspire together,
planning, plotting, scheming to take my life.
14 But I pour my trust into You, Eternal One.
I’m glad to say, “You are my God!”
15 I give the moments of my life over to You, Eternal One.
Rescue me from those who hate me and who hound me with their threats.
16 Look toward me, and let Your face shine down upon Your servant.
Because of Your gracious love, save me!
17 Spare me shame, O Eternal One,
for I turn and call to You.
Instead, let those who hate me be shamed;
let death’s silence claim them.
18 Seal their lying lips forever,
for with pride and contempt boiling in their hearts,
they speak boldly against the righteous and persecute those who poured their trust into You.
3 To do what is right and to seek justice—
these please Him more than sacrifice.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.