Study Desk

So now let us cut a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

Then Ezra arose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. He went there, but he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.

So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain.

So now, make confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives."

Let our princes stand in for the whole assembly, and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at set times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the burning anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us."

Now it happened that when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

I said, "I beseech You, O Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and fearsome God, who keeps the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.

and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the house of God, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go." And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.

And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my heart to do for Jerusalem; and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.

And I told them how the hand of my God had been good to me and also about the king's words which he had said to me. Then they said, "Let us arise and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

So I responded to them with a word and said to them, "The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His slaves will arise and build, but you have no portion, right, or remembrance in Jerusalem."

Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity.

But we prayed to our God, and because of them we stood a guard against them day and night.

Now it happened that when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had thwarted their counsel, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.

At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, there gather together to us. Our God will fight for us."

And I said, "The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?

I also shook out the front of my garment and said, "Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not establish this word; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" And they praised Yahweh. Then the people did according to this word.

But the former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their young men exerted their power over the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God.

Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.