Ezra 9:1-10:44, Nehemiah 13:1-31 - LSB - Legacy Standard Bible

Ezra 9:1-10:44

The Unfaithfulness of the Exiles

Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not ^aseparated themselves from the peoples of the lands, ^baccording to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. 2 For ^athey have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that ^bthe holy seed has ^cintermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the officials have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” 3 When I heard about this matter, I ^atore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and ^bsat down in consternation. 4 Then ^aeveryone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until ^bthe evening offering.

Ezra’s Confession

5 But at the evening offering I arose from my ¹affliction, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and ^astretched out my ²hands to Yahweh my God; 6 and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have multiplied above our heads and our ^aguilt has become great even to the heavens. 7 ^aSince the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder and to ¹^bopen shame, as it is this day. 8 But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, ^ato leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a ^bpeg in His holy place, that our God may ^cenlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 ^aFor we are slaves; yet in our slavery our God has not forsaken us, but ^bhas extended lovingkindness to us before the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its waste places, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
10 “So now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, 11 which You have commanded by the hand of Your slaves the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an impure land with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end, and ^awith their uncleanness. 12 So now do not ^agive your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and ^bnever seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and ^cleave it as a possession to your sons forever.’ 13 After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and ^aour great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us ^ban escaped remnant as this, 14 ^ashall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples ¹who commit these abominations? ^bWould You not be angry with us ²to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? 15 O Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^aYou are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in ^bour guilt, for ^cno one can stand before You because of this.”

Ezra Makes Israel Swear an Oath

Now ^awhile Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself ^bbefore the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women, and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. 2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, “^aWe have been unfaithful to our God and have ¹married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3 So now ^alet us cut a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and ¹^btheir children, according to the counsel of ²my lord and of ^cthose who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done ^daccording to the law. 4 Arise! For this matter is ¹your responsibility, but we will be with you; ^abe strong and act.”
5 Then Ezra arose and ^amade the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, swear an oath that they would do according to this word; so they swore an oath. 6 Then Ezra ^aarose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. He went there, but ^bhe did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. 7 And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should gather at Jerusalem, 8 and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the prince and the elders, all his possessions should be devoted to destruction and he himself separated from the assembly of the exiles.
9 So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, ^atrembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. 10 Then Ezra the priest arose and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. 11 So now, ^amake confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and ^bdo His will; and ^cseparate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” 12 Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “This is so! As you have said, so it is ¹our duty to do. 13 But there are many people; it is the rainy season, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. 14 Let our princes stand in for the whole assembly, and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at set times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the ^aburning anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.” 15 However, Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood against this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helping them.
16 But the exiles did so. And ¹Ezra the priest separated out men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they ²convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. 17 And they completed investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

Those Who Married Foreign Wives

18 Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of ^aJeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah. 19 They gave their hand in pledge to put away their wives, and being guilty, ^athey offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.
20

Of the sons of Immer there were Hanani and Zebadiah;

and of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel and Uzziah;

and of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad and Elasah.

Of Levites there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer.

Of the singers there was Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem and Uri.

Of Israel, of the sons of ^aParosh there were Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah;

and of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth and Elijah;

and of the sons of ^aZattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad and Aziza;

and of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai;

and of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal and Jeremoth;

and of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh;

and of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, ^aMalchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah;

of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei;

of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel,

Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,

Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu,

Bani, Binnui, Shimei,

Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,

Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,

Shallum, Amariah and Joseph.

Of the sons of ^aNebo there were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel and Benaiah.

44 All these had taken up ^aforeign women as wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

Nehemiah 13:1-31

Foreigners Are Separated from Israel

On that day ^athey read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that ^bno Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, 2 because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but ^ahired Balaam against them to curse them. However, ^bour God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 So when they heard the law, ^athey separated ^ball foreigners from Israel.

Tobiah’s Goods Removed from God’s House

4 Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, ^awho was put in charge over the chambers of the house of our God, being ¹related to ^bTobiah, 5 had prepared a large ¹room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, also new wine and oil ^acommanded for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, as well as the ²contributions for the priests. 6 But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in ^athe thirty-second year of ^bArtaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king, 7 and I came to Jerusalem and discerned the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, ^aby preparing a chamber for him in the courts of the house of God. 8 It was very evil to me, so I ^athrew all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the chamber. 9 Then I said the word, and ^athey cleansed the chambers; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.

Why Is the House of God Forsaken?

10 I also came to know that ^athe portions of the Levites had not been given them, so the Levites and the singers who did the work had fled, ^beach to his own field. 11 So I ^acontended against the officials and said, “^bWhy is the house of God forsaken?” Then I gathered them together and had them stand in their posts. 12 All Judah then brought ^athe tithe of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for ^athey were counted as faithful, and it was ¹their task to apportion everything to their ²relatives. 14 ^aRemember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my lovingkindnesses which I have shown for the house of my God and its responsibilities.

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses ^aon the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, ^band they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So ^cI testified against them on the day they sold food. 16 Also men of Tyre were living ¹there who brought in fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem. 17 Then ^aI contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, even profaning the sabbath day? 18 ^aDid not your fathers do the same, so our God brought on us and on this city all this calamity? Yet you are adding to His anger on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”
19 ^aNow it happened that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I said the word, and the doors were shut. Then I said that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I had some of my young men stand at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day. 20 Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 Then ^aI ¹warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will send forth my hand against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath. 22 And I said to the Levites that ^athey should cleanse themselves and come as gatekeepers to keep the sabbath day holy. For this also ^bremember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

You Shall Not Marry Foreigners

23 In those days I also saw that the Jews had ¹^amarried women from ^bAshdod, ^cAmmon, and Moab. 24 As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but only ¹the tongue of his own people. 25 So ^aI contended with them and cursed them and ^bstruck some of them and pulled out their hair and ^cmade them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take up their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 ^aDid not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? ^bYet among the many nations there was no king like him, and ^che was loved by his God, and God gave him to be king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. 27 ¹Do we then hear about you that you have done all this great evil ^aby acting unfaithfully against our God by ²marrying foreign women?” 28 And even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of ^aSanballat the Horonite, so I made him flee away from me. 29 ^aRemember them, O my God, ¹because they have defiled the priesthood and the ^bcovenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 ^aThus I cleansed them from everything foreign and ensured that the responsibilities stood for the priests and the Levites, each in his work, 31 and I arranged ^afor the supply of wood at fixed times and for the first fruits. ^bRemember me, O my God, for good.