Ezra 09
Ezra knows that many Israelites married Hittite women and prays and confesses to God
1 When these things were finished, the princes came to me and said, "The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of these lands, but have followed the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites;
2 For they took some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and so the holy seed mixed with the people of these lands; and even the hand of the princes and rulers was the first in this transgression.
3 When I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished.
4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the transgression of the captives gathered around me, but I sat there in amazement until the evening sacrifice.
5 And at the time of the evening sacrifice I arose from my distress, having torn my garment and my cloak, and fell upon my knees, and spread out my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
6 And I said, "My God, I am ashamed and ashamed to lift up my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guilt has reached to the heavens."
7 Since the days of our fathers even to this day we have been in great guilt, and because of our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
8 And now, as for a little while, grace has been shown to us by the Lord our God, to leave us a few to escape, and to give us a peg in his holy place, to give us light to our eyes, O our God, and to give us a little life in our bondage.
9 For we are servants, and our God did not forsake us in our bondage, but extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to build up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,
11 which you commanded through your servants the prophets, saying, “The land, which you are entering to possess, is an unclean land because of the uncleanness of its people, because of the abominations with which they have filled it from one end to the other in their corruption.
12 Now therefore, you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you seek their peace and their welfare for ever; that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it as a possession for your children forever.
13 And after all that has happened to us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt, yet you, O God, have kept us from being destroyed because of our iniquity, and have given us such a deliverance as this.
14 Shall we now again break your commandments and have intermarriage with the people of these abominations? Would you not be so angry with us until you had completely consumed us, until there was no remnant or survivor?
15 Ah, Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we have escaped, as we have done today. We are here before you in our sin, for there is no one who can stand before you because of this.