Ezra 9
9After all this was done, the leaders came to me and said, "The People of Israel, priests and Levites included, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring people around here with all their vulgar obscenities—Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, Amorites.H3615H8269H5066H559H5971H3478H3548H3881H914H5971H776H8441H3669H2850H6522H2983H5984H4125H4713H5672They have given some of their daughters in marriage to them and have taken some of their daughters for marriage to their sons. The holy seed is now all mixed in with these other peoples. And our leaders have led the way in this betrayal."H5375H1323H1121H6944H2233H6148H5971H776H3027H8269H5461H7223H46043When I heard all this, I ripped my clothes and my cape; I pulled hair from my head and out of my beard; I slumped to the ground, appalled.H8085H1697H7167H899H4598H4803H8181H7218H2206H3427H80744Many were in fear and trembling because of what God was saying about the betrayal by the exiles. They gathered around me as I sat there in despair, waiting for the evening sacrifice.H622H2730H1697H430H3478H4604H1473H3427H8074H6153H45035At the evening sacrifice I picked myself up from my utter devastation, and in my ripped clothes and cape fell to my knees and stretched out my hands to GOD, my God.H6153H4503H6965H8589H7167H899H4598H3766H1290H6566H3709H3068H4306And I prayed: "My dear God, I'm so totally ashamed, I can't bear to face you. O my God—our iniquities are piled up so high that we can't see out; our guilt touches the skies.H559H430H954H3637H7311H6440H430H5771H7235H4605H7218H819H1431H80647We've been stuck in a muck of guilt since the time of our ancestors until right now; we and our kings and priests, because of our sins, have been turned over to foreign kings, to killing, to captivity, to looting, and to public shame—just as you see us now.H3117H1H1419H819H3117H5771H4428H3548H5414H3027H4428H776H2719H7628H961H1322H6440H31178"Now for a brief time GOD, our God, has allowed us, this battered band, to get a firm foothold in his holy place so that our God may brighten our eyes and lighten our burdens as we serve out this hard sentence.H4592H7281H8467H3068H430H7604H6413H5414H3489H6944H4725H430H215H5869H5414H4592H4241H56599We were slaves; yet even as slaves, our God didn't abandon us. He has put us in the good graces of the kings of Persia and given us the heart to build The Temple of our God, restore its ruins, and construct a defensive wall in Judah and Jerusalem.H5650H430H5800H5659H5186H2617H6440H4428H6539H5414H4241H7311H1004H430H5975H2723H5414H1447H3063H338910"And now, our God, after all this what can we say for ourselves? For we have thrown your commands to the wind,H430H559H310H5800H468711the commands you gave us through your servants the prophets. They told us, 'The land you're taking over is a polluted land, polluted with the obscene vulgarities of the people who live there; they've filled it with their moral rot from one end to the other.H6680H3027H5650H5030H559H776H935H3423H5079H776H5079H5971H776H8441H4390H6310H6310H293212Whatever you do, don't give your daughters in marriage to their sons nor marry your sons to their daughters. Don't cultivate their good opinion; don't make over them and get them to like you so you can make a lot of money and build up a tidy estate to hand down to your children.'H5414H1323H1121H5375H1323H1121H1875H7965H2896H5704H5769H2388H398H2898H776H3423H1121H576913"And now this, on top of all we've already suffered because of our evil ways and accumulated guilt, even though you, dear God, punished us far less than we deserved and even went ahead and gave us this pres- ent escape.H310H935H7451H4639H1419H819H430H2820H4295H5771H5414H641314Yet here we are, at it again, breaking your commandments by intermarrying with the people who practice all these obscenities! Are you angry to the point of wiping us out completely, without even a few stragglers, with no way out at all?H7725H6565H4687H2859H5971H8441H599H3615H7611H641315You are the righteous GOD of Israel. We are, right now, a small band of escapees. Look at us, openly standing here, guilty before you. No one can last long like this."H3068H430H3478H6662H7604H6413H3117H6440H819H5975H6440
The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
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