Ezra 9

¹ Once this was done, the leaders approached me to say, ‘The people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, have not broken with the natives of the countries who are steeped in abominations-Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites-

² but have found wives among these foreign women for themselves and for their sons; the holy race has been mingling with the natives of the countries; in this act of treachery the chief men and officials have led the way’.

³ At this news I tore my garment and my cloak; I tore hair from my head and beard and sat down, quite overcome.

⁴ All who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered round me, when faced by this treachery of the exiles. For my part, I went on sitting there, overcome, until the evening oblation.

⁵ At the evening sacrifice I came out of my stupor and falling on my knees, with my garment and cloak torn, I stretched out my hands to Yahweh my God,

⁶ and said: ‘My God, I am ashamed, I blush to lift my face to you, my God. For our crimes have increased, until they are higher than our heads, and our sin has piled up to heaven.

⁷ From the days of our ancestors until now our guilt has been great; on account of our crimes we, our kings and our priests, were given into the power of the kings of other countries, given to the sword, to captivity, to pillage and to shame, as is the case today.

⁸ But now, suddenly, Yahweh our God by his favour has left us a remnant and granted us a refuge in his holy place; this is how our God has cheered our eyes and given us a little respite in our slavery.

⁹ For we are slaves; but God has not forgotten us in our slavery; he has shown us kindness in the eyes of the kings of Persia, obtaining permission for us to rebuild the Temple of our God and restore its ruins, and he has found us safety and shelter in Judah and in Jerusalem.

¹⁰ But now what can we say, my God, if after this kindness we have deserted your commandments,

¹¹ which, through your servants the prophets, you ordained in these words, “The land you are entering to possess is a land unclean because of the foulness of the natives of the countries and of the abominations with which their impurities have infected it from end to end.

¹² So you must not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons; you must not be concerned for their peace or their prosperity, so that you yourselves may grow strong, eat the best of what the country produces and leave it as an inheritance to your sons for ever.”

¹³ ‘Now after all that has come upon us on account of our evil deeds and our great fault-although you, our God, have rated our crimes less than their wickedness and left us this remnant here-

¹⁴ are we to break your commandments again and intermarry with these people who practise such abominations? Would you not be provoked to the point of destroying us, so that not even the smallest remnant would survive?

¹⁵ ‘Yahweh, God of Israel, by your justice we survive as the remnant we are today; here we are before you with our sin. And because of it, no one can survive in your presence.’