1. Ezra was praying and confessing. He was crying and bowing down in front of God’s Temple. While Ezra was doing that, a large group of the Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him. They were crying.
2. Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, spoke to Ezra and said, “We have not been faithful to our God. We have married the people living around us. But, even though we have done this, there is still hope for Israel.
3. Now let us make an agreement before our God to send away all these women and their children. We will do that to follow the advice of Ezra and the people who respect the laws of our God. We will obey God’s law.
4. Get up, Ezra. This is your responsibility, but we will support you. So be brave and do it.”
5. So Ezra got up. He made the leading priests, the Levites, and all the Israelites promise to do what he said.
6. Then Ezra went away from the front of God’s house. He went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While Ezra was there, he didn’t eat food or drink water. He did that because he was still very sad. He was very sad about the Israelites who came back to Jerusalem.
7. Then he sent a message to every place in Judah and Jerusalem. The message told all the Jewish people who had come back from captivity to meet together in Jerusalem.
8. Those who did not come to Jerusalem in three days like the officials and elders said would lose their property and be removed from the group.
9. So in three days all the men from the families of Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem. And on the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the people met together in the Temple yard. They were very upset because of the reason for the meeting and because of the heavy rain.
10. Then Ezra the priest stood and said to them, “You people have not been faithful to God. You have married foreign women. You have made Israel more guilty by doing that.
11. Now you must confess your sins to the Lord, the God of your ancestors. You must obey his command. Separate yourselves from the people living around you and from your foreign wives.”
12. Then the whole group who met together answered Ezra. They shouted, “Ezra, you are right! We must do what you say.
13. But there are many people here. And it is the rainy time of year, so we cannot stay outside. This problem cannot be solved in a day or two because we have sinned in a very bad way.
14. Let our leaders decide for the whole group meeting here. Then let every man in our towns who married a foreign woman come here to Jerusalem at a planned time. Let them come here with the elders and judges of their towns. Then God will stop being angry with us.”
15. Only a few men were against this plan. They were Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah. Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite also were against the plan.
16. So the Israelites who came back to Jerusalem accepted the plan. Ezra the priest chose men who were family leaders. He chose one man from each tribe. Each man was chosen by name. On the first day of the tenth month, the men who were chosen sat down to study each of the cases.