Ezra 10 · עזרא

Now when ῾Ezra had prayed, and when he had made confession, weeping and casting himself before the house of God, there assembled to him out of Yisra᾽el a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very bitterly.

And Shekhanya the son of Yeĥi᾽el, one of the sons of ῾Elam, answered and said to ῾Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken alien women of the peoples of the land: yet now there is hope in Yisra᾽el concerning this thing.

Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all such women, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the Tora.

Arise; for it is thy task: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.

Then ῾Ezra arose, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Yisra᾽el swear that they would do according to this word. And they swore.

Then ῾Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Yoĥanan the son of Elyashiv: and when he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water: for he mourned because of the transgression of the exiles.

And they made proclamation throughout Yehuda and Yerushalayim to all the children of the exile, that they should gather themselves together to Yerushalayim;

and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of the exiles.

Then all the men of Yehuda and Binyamin gathered themselves together to Yerushalayim within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the open place before the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and on account of the great rain.

And ῾Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, You have transgressed, and have taken alien women to increase the guilt of Yisra᾽el.

Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the alien women.

Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice. As thou hast said, so must we do.

But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside, nor is this a work of one day or two: for we are many who have transgressed in this thing.

Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all those who have taken foreign women in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and their judges, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter is turned away from us.

Only Yonatan the son of ῾Asa᾽el and Yaĥzeya the son of Tiqva stood out against this: and Meshullam and Shabbetay the Levite helped them.

And the children of the exile did so. And certain chiefs of the fathers’ houses after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated by ῾Ezra the priest, and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

And they made an end of the whole matter of the men who had taken foreign women by the first day of the first month.

And among the sons of the priests there were found such as had taken foreign women: namely, of the sons of Yeshua the son of Yożadaq, and his brothers; Ma῾aseya, and Eli῾ezer, and Yariv, and Gedalya.

And they gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.

And of the sons of Immer; Ḥanani, and Zevadya;

and of the sons of Ḥarim, Ma῾aseya and Eliyya, and Shema῾ya, and Yeĥi᾽el, and ῾Uzziyya;

and of the sons of Pashĥur, Elyo῾enay, Ma῾aseya, Yishma᾽el, Netan᾽el, Yozavad, and El῾asa;

and of the Levites, Yozavad, and Sim῾i, and Qelaya, (the same is Qelita,) Petaĥya, Yehuda, and Eli῾ezer;

and of the singers, Elyashiv; and of the gatekeepers, Shallum, and Telem, and Uri;

and of Yisra᾽el: of the sons of Par῾osh, Ramya, and Yizziyya, and Malkiyya, and Miyyamin, and El῾azar, and Malkiyya, and Benaya;

and of the sons of ῾Elam, Mattanya, Zekharya, and Yeĥi᾽el, and ῾Avdi, and Yeremot, and Eliyya;

and of the sons of Zattu, Elyo῾enay, Elyashiv. Mattanya, and Yeremot, and Zavad, and ῾Aziza;

and of the sons of Bevay, Yehoĥanan, Ḥananya, Zabbay, and ῾Atlay;

and of the sons of Bani, Meshullam, Malukh, and ῾Adaya, Yashuv, and She᾽al, and Ramot;

and of the sons of Paĥat-mo᾽av, ῾Adna, and Kelal, Benaya, Ma῾aseya, Mattanya, Beżal᾽el, and Binnuy, and Menashshe;

and of the sons of Ḥarim, Eli῾ezer, Yishshiyya, Malkiyya, Shema῾ya, Shim῾on,

Binyamin, Malukh, Shemarya;

of the sons of Ḥashum, Mattenay, Mattatta, Zavad, Elifelet, Yeremay, Menashshe, Shim῾i;

of the sons of Bani, Ma῾aday, ῾Amram, and U᾽el,

Benaya, Bedeya, Keluhu,

Vanya, Meremot, Elyashiv,

Mattanya, Mattenay, and Ya῾asay,

and Bani, and Binnuy, Shim῾i,

Shelemya, and Natan, and ῾Adaya,

Makhnadvay, Shashay, Sharay,

῾Azar᾽el, and Shelemyahu, Shemarya,

Shallum, Amarya, and Yosef.

Of the sons of Nevo, Ye῾i᾽el, Mattitya, Zavad, Zevina, Yadday, and Yo᾽el, Benaya.

All these had married foreign women: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.