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And they delivered the king's commissions to the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side of the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God.

Then were assembled to me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat confounded until the evening sacrifice.

And at the evening sacrifice I arose from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,

And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over [our] head, and our trespass is grown up to the heavens.

And now for a little space grace hath 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.

For we [were] bond-men; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy 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 the desolations of it, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

And after all that hath come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities [deserve], and hast given us [such] deliverance as this;

O LORD God of Israel, thou [art] righteous: for we having escaped, remain yet, as [it is] this day: behold, we [are] before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very bitterly.

And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, [one] of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken foreign wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

Now 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 that 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 Johanan the son of Eliashib: and [when] he came thither, he ate no bread, nor drank water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within three days. It [was] the ninth month, and the twentieth [day] of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of [this] matter, and for the great rain.

Now therefore make confession to the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the foreign wives.

Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them who have taken foreign wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter shall be turned from us.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned [certain] days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

Then the king said to me, For what dost thou make 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 palace which [appertained] to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.