Study Desk

"Now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have abandoned (turned away from) Your commandments,

"And after everything that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our wrongdoings deserve, and have given us survivors like these,

"O LORD God of Israel, You are [uncompromisingly] just (righteous), for we have been left as survivors, as it is this day. Behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this."

Now while Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and laying himself face down before the house of God, a very large group from Israel, of men, women, and children, gathered to him, for the people wept bitterly.

Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, "We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

"Therefore let us now make a covenant with our God to send away all the [foreign] wives and their children, in accordance with the advice of my lord and of those who tremble [in reverent obedience] at the commandment of our God; and let it be done in accordance with the Law.

Then Ezra got up from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib [and spent the night there]. He did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the [former] exiles' faithlessness.

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

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have been unfaithful [to God] and have married foreign (pagan) women, adding to the guilt of Israel.

"So now, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and do His will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from [your] foreign wives."

"Let our leaders stand for and represent the entire assembly; let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the burning anger of our God over this matter is turned away from us."

Now it came about when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying [constantly] before the God of heaven.

And I said, "Please, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

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

and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, so that he will give me timber to construct beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, and for the city wall and for the house which I will occupy." And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

Then I got up in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting in my heart to do for Jerusalem, and there was no animal with me except the one on which I was riding [so as not to attract attention].

Then I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, "Let us rise up and build." So they thoroughly supported the good work.

I answered them, "The God of heaven [has appointed us for His purpose and] will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right, or memorial in Jerusalem."

[And Nehemiah prayed] Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their taunts on their own heads. Give them up as prey in a land of captivity.

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