Today's Reading

¹Now when these things were done, the princes drew near to me, saying, "The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

²For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass."

³When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded.

⁴Then were assembled to me everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of their trespass of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening offering.

⁵At the evening offering I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to the Lord my God;

⁶and I said, "My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens.

⁷Since the days of our fathers we have been exceeding guilty to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

⁸Now for a little moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

⁹For we are bondservants; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

¹⁰"Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,

¹¹which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land, to which you go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness.

¹²Now therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.'

¹³"After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant,

¹⁴shall we again break your commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? Wouldn't you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?

¹⁵The Lord, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for none can stand before you because of this."

¹Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before God's house, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very bitterly.

²Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Ezra, "We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing.

³Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

⁴Arise; for the matter belongs to you, and we are with you. Be courageous, and do it."

⁵Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore.

⁶Then Ezra rose up from before God's house, and went into the room of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of their trespass of the captivity.

⁷They made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem;

⁸and that whoever did not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity.

⁹Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month: and all the people sat in the broad place before God's house, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.

¹⁰Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, "You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel.

¹¹Now therefore make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women."

¹²Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, "As you have said concerning us, so must we do.

¹³But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside; neither is this a work of one day or two; for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.

¹⁴Let now our princes be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, until this matter is resolved."

¹⁵Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

¹⁶The children of the captivity did so. Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers' households, after their fathers' houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

¹⁷They made an end with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month.

¹⁸Among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

¹⁹They gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.

²⁰Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

²¹Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.

²²Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³Of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

²⁴Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the porters: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.

²⁵Of Israel: Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.

²⁶Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah.

²⁷Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.

²⁸Of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai.

²⁹Of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth.

³⁰Of the sons of Pahathmoab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.

³¹Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

³²Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah.

³³Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei.

³⁴Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

³⁵Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,

³⁶Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

³⁷Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu,

³⁸and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,

³⁹and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,

⁴⁰Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

⁴¹Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,

⁴²Shallum, Amariah, Joseph.

⁴³Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah.

⁴⁴All these had taken foreign wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

¹The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

²that Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

³They said to me, "The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire."

⁴It happened, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,

⁵and said, "I beg you, Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments:

⁶Let your ear now be attentive, and your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel your servants while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father's house have sinned.

⁷We have dealt very corruptly against you, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which you commanded your servant Moses.

⁸"Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples;

⁹but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.'

¹⁰"Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power, and by your strong hand.

¹¹Lord, I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants, who delight to fear your name; and please prosper your servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." Now I was cup bearer to the king.

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even among the Gentiles, that one has his father's wife.

²You are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you.

³For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing.

⁴In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁵are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?

⁷Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.

⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners;

¹⁰yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or with idolaters; for then you would have to leave the world.

¹¹But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. Do not even eat with such a person.

¹²For what have I to do with also judging those who are outside? Do you not judge those who are within?

¹³But those who are outside, God judges. "Put away the wicked man from among yourselves."

¹ I will give you thanks with my whole heart. Before the angels, I will sing praises to you.

²I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all.

³In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.

⁴All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth.

⁵Yes, they will sing of the ways of the Lord; for great is the Lord's glory.

⁶For though the Lord is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but the proud, he knows from afar.

⁷Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.

⁸The Lord will fulfill that which concerns me; your loving kindness, Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the works of your own hands.

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

²He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him.

³The fool's talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them.

⁴Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

⁵A truthful witness will not lie, but a false witness pours out lies.

⁶A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn't find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.

⁷Stay away from a foolish man, for you won't find knowledge on his lips.

⁸The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.

⁹Fools mock at making atonement for sins, but among the upright there is good will.

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness and joy; he will not share these with a stranger.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

¹³Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness.

¹⁴The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.

¹⁵A simple man believes everything, but the prudent man carefully considers his ways.

¹⁶A wise man fears, and shuns evil, but the fool is hotheaded and reckless.

¹⁷He who is quick to become angry will commit folly, and a crafty man is hated.

¹⁸The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹The evil bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends.

²¹He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who has pity on the poor.

²²Do they not go astray who plot evil? But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good.

²³In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.

²⁴The crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools crowns them with folly.

²⁵A truthful witness saves souls, but a false witness is deceitful.

²⁶In the fear of the Lord is a secure fortress, and he will be a refuge for his children.

²⁷The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death.

²⁸In the multitude of people is the king's glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.

²⁹He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.

³⁰The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones.

³¹He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

³²The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.

³³Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, and is even made known in the inward part of fools.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵The king's favor is toward a servant who deals wisely, but his wrath is toward one who causes shame.