Ezra 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
458 BC, within months of Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem
Location
The temple courts in Jerusalem
Audience
A Jewish community whose identity depended on remaining distinct from its neighbours
Situation
Officials tell Ezra that many of the returned exiles, including priests and leaders, have married into the surrounding peoples. Ezra tears his clothes, sits appalled until the evening sacrifice, and prays a long confession that treats the situation as a repeat of the sins that caused the exile.
Key Background
The concern here is religious loyalty rather than ethnicity, since Israelite law had always allowed outsiders who joined the covenant, and the peoples listed are named for their worship practices. In a tiny province of perhaps thirty thousand people surrounded by larger groups, intermarriage with families devoted to other gods realistically meant the community would dissolve within a generation or two. Tearing clothing and pulling out hair were recognised public gestures of grief and shame, and Ezra times his prayer to the evening offering so the whole assembly sees it.
After all this was 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 peoples of the surrounding lands and their — the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites."
"They've taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, mixing the that to with the peoples of the surrounding lands. And the leaders and officials have been the
When I heard this, I my and my pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down in
Then everyone who at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the of the returned exiles. I sat there in shock until the evening offering.
At the evening offering, I got up from my — still with my robe and cloak torn — and fell on my knees with my out to Yahweh my God.
I said: "My God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift my face to you, my God, because our have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached up to the heavens."
"From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been enormous. Because of our failures, we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of other lands — to the sword, captivity, plundering, and public humiliation, as it is today."
"But now, for a brief moment, Yahweh God has shown us by leaving us a and giving us a foothold in the that to God has and given us a little relief in slavery."
"We were slaves, but our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. He has shown us in the eyes of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a of in Judah and Jerusalem."
"And now, our God, what can we even say after this? Because we have abandoned your commands —"
"the commands you gave through your servants the prophets when you said: 'The land you are entering to possess is a land by the corruption of the peoples of those lands, with their detestable practices. They have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness.'"
"'So don't give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong, eat the good things of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.'"
"After everything that has come on us because of evil deeds and great guilt — and you, God, have us than and have given us this surviving remnant — "
"should we go back to breaking your commands and intermarrying with the peoples who practice these detestable things? Wouldn't you be angry enough to destroy us completely, until there's no remnant or survivor left?"
"Yahweh, God of Israel, you are — because we exist today as a remnant that escaped. Here we are before you in our guilt, even though because of it, not one of us can stand in your presence."