¹And as Ezra was praying, and as he was confessing, weeping, and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large convocation of men and women and children of Israel gathered around him. For the people wept with many tears. ²And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, started to speak and said to Ezra, “We have acted treacherously against our God, and we have brought foreign women from the various countries into our homes, but now there is hope for Israel despite this. ³So now, let us make a covenant with our God to remove all the women and those born by them, in line with the advice of the Lord^* and those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the law. ⁴Get up, for the matter is your responsibility. And we are with you. Be strong and act.” ⁵And Ezra got up and adjured the high-ranking priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to act according to these words. And they swore. ⁶Then Ezra got up from his position before the house of God, and he went to the office of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Having arrived there, he did not eat bread and he did not drink water, because he was mourning over the perverseness of the deportees. ⁷And they had it proclaimed in Judah and Jerusalem for all the deportees to be gathered in Jerusalem. ⁸And that as for anyone who did not come within three days according to the advice of the officials and elders, all his property would be confiscated, and he would be excluded from the convocation of the deportees. ⁹At this all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month, and all the people sat in the open at the house of God, trembling at the matter and because of the rain. ¹⁰Then Ezra the priest arose and said to them, “You have acted perversely and brought foreign women into your homes, so adding to Israel's guilt. ¹¹So now, make a confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do his will, and separate yourselves from the various peoples of the land, and from foreign women.” ¹²And the whole convocation answered and said in a loud voice, “We must indeed act according to your words. ¹³But the people are many and it is the season of rain, and we do not have the fortitude to endure outside, and the operation is not a matter of one day, nor is it of two, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. ¹⁴Please let our officials of the whole convocation superintend, and let everyone who has brought foreign women into his home in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of each city, with its judges, until the fury of our God's anger is averted from us – until this matter is over.” ¹⁵And indeed it was Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah who superintended this, while Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. ¹⁶So the deportees did this. And Ezra the priest, and men who were paternal heads of their paternal house were all separated by name, and they sat on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. ¹⁷And they finished investigating all the men who had brought foreign women into their homes by the first day of the first month. ¹⁸And among the sons of the priests who had brought foreign women into their homes, the following were found: of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the sons of his brothers, were Maaseiah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedaliah, ¹⁹and they pledged to remove their wives, and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt. ²⁰And among the sons of Immer were Hanani and Zebadiah; ²¹and among the sons of Harim were Maaseiah and Elijah and Shemaiah and Jehiel and Uzziah; ²²and among the sons of Pashhur were Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad and Elasah; ²³and among the Levites were Jozabad and Shimei and Kelaiah (he is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer; ²⁴and among the singers was Eliashib; and among the gatekeepers were Shallum and Telem and Uri; ²⁵and among Israel, among the sons of Parosh were Ramiah and Jiziah and Malchijah and Miamin and Eleazar and Malchijah and Benaiah; ²⁶and among the sons of Elam were Mattaniah, Zechariah and Jehiel and Abdi and Jeremoth and Eliah; ²⁷and among the sons of Zattu were Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah and Jeremoth and Zabad and Aziza; ²⁸and among the sons of Bebai were Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai; ²⁹and among the sons of Bani were Meshullam, Malluch and Adaiah, Jashub and Sheal and Jeremoth; ³⁰and among the sons of Pahath-Moab were Adna and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel and Binnui and Manasseh; ³¹and among the sons of Harim were Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimon, ³²Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah; ³³among the sons of Hashum were Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei; ³⁴among the sons of Bani were Maadai, Amram and Uel, ³⁵Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelahai, ³⁶Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷Mattaniah, Mattenai and Jaasai, ³⁸and Bani and Binnui and Shimei, ³⁹and Shelemiah and Nathan and Adaiah, ⁴⁰Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴²Shallum, Amariah and Joseph. ⁴³Among the sons of Nebo were Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai and Joel and Benaiah. ⁴⁴All these married foreign women, and there are among them women by whom they begot sons.