Ezra

be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have come to Jerusalem; the rebellious and wicked city they are building, and [its] walls they are finishing, and the foundations they are repairing.

Now be it known to the king that if this city is built and the walls are completed, tax, tribute, and custom they will not pay, and the treasury of the king will be diminished.

And they assembled to me—everyone trembling at the words of the God of Israel, because of the trespass of the exiles. And I sat appalled until the sacrifice of the evening.

And what shall we say, our God, after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

that You commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you⁺ are entering to possess, it is a land of impurity, by the impurity of the peoples of the lands with their abominations that have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.

And now, do not give as wives your⁺ daughters for their sons, and lift not their daughters to your⁺ sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity even to forever, that you⁺ may be strong and eat the good of the land, and give possession to your⁺ children even to forever.’

And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt (since You, our God, you have restrained it to lower than our iniquities and have given us a deliverance like this),

should we turn back to break Your commandments and join in marriage with the peoples of these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed [us] without remnant or survivor?

And Ezra arose, and he made swear an oath the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel, that they would do this according to the word. And they swore an oath.