Ezra
9
- After these things had been done, the leaders
came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and
the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples
with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites.
- They have taken some of their daughters
as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with
the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in
this unfaithfulness."
- When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak,
pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.
- Then everyone who trembled at the words
of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness of
the exiles. And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice.
- Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from
my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with
my hands spread out to the LORD my God
- and prayed: "O my God, I am too ashamed
and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher
than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
- From the days of our forefathers until now,
our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests
have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation
at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.
- "But now, for a brief moment, the LORD
our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place
in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief
in our bondage.
- Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted
us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia:
He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its
ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
- "But now, O our God, what can we say
after this? For we have disregarded the commands
- you gave through your servants the prophets
when you said: 'The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by
the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled
it with their impurity from one end to the other.
- Therefore, do not give your daughters in
marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek
a treaty of friendship with them at any time, that you may be strong and eat
the good things of the land and leave it to your children as an everlasting
inheritance.'
- "What has happened to us is a result
of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished
us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this.
- Shall we again break your commands and intermarry
with the peoples who commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry
enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor ?
- O LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous!
We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though
because of it not one of us can stand in your presence."
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