Study Desk

For we are slaves, yet in our servitude the Lord our God has not deserted us; and he has extended favour to us in the sight of the kings of the Persians, to give us a quickening, that they should raise up the house of our God, and restore the desolate places of it, and to give us a fence in Juda and Jerusalem.

What shall we say, our God, after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

And after all that is come upon us because of our evil deeds, and our great trespass, it is clear that there is none such as our God, for thou has lightly visited our iniquities, and given us deliverance;

O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we remain yet escaped, as at this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee on this account.

So when Esdras had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and praying before the house of God, a very great assembly of Israel came together to him, men and women and youths; for the people wept, and wept aloud.

And Sechenias the son of Jeel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Esdras, We have broken covenant with our God, and have taken strange wives of the nations of the land: yet now there is patience of hope to Israel concerning this thing.

Now then let us make a covenant with our God, to put away all the wives, and their offspring, as thou shalt advise:

arise, and alarm them with the commands of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Rise up, for the matter is upon thee; and we are with thee: be strong and do.

And Esdras rose up from before the house of God, and went to the treasury of Joanan the son of Elisub; he even went thither: he ate no bread, and drank no water; for he mourned over the unfaithfulness of them of the captivity.

Now therefore give praise to the Lord God of our fathers, and do that which is pleasing in his sight: and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the strange wives.

Let now our rulers stand, and for all those in our cities who have taken strange wives, let them come at appointed times, and with them elders from every several city, and judges, to turn away the fierce wrath of our God from us concerning this matter.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for several days, and continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

And I said, Nay, I pray thee, O Lord God of heaven, the mighty, the great and terrible, keeping thy covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to those that keep his commandments:

And the king said to me, For what dost thou ask thus? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the garden which belongs to the king, that he may give me timber to cover the gates, and for the wall of the city, and for the house into which I shall enter. And the king gave to me, according as the good hand of God was upon me.

And I rose up by night, I and a few men with me; and I told no man what God put into my heart to do with Israel; and there was no beast with me, except the beast which I rode upon.

And I told them of the hand of God which was good upon me, also about the words of the king which he spoke to me: and I said, Let us arise and build. And their hands were strengthened for the good work.

And I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he shall prosper us, and we his servants are pure, and we will build: but ye have no part, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Hear, O our God, for we have become a scorn; and return thou their reproach upon their head, and make them a scorn in a land of captivity,

So we prayed to our God and set watchmen against them day and night, because of them.