Ezra's Prayer About Intermarriage
1
After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said,
"The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites have not kept
themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with
their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites.
2
They have take some of their daughters as wives for themselves
and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around
them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness."
3
When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak,
pilled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.
4
Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel
gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness of the exiles.
And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice.
5
Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement,
with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands
spread out to the LORD my God
6
and prayed: "O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you,
my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and
our guilt has reached to the heavens.
7
From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great.
Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected
to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of
foreign kings, as it is today.
8
"But now, for a brief moment, the LORD our God has been gracious
in leaving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light
to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage.
9
Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in bondage.
He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia:
He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins,
and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
10
"But now, O our God what can we say after this? For we have disgarded the commands
11
you gave through your servants the prophets when you said:
'The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption
of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity
from one end to the other.
12
Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters
for your sons. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them at any time,
that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it to
your children as an everlasting inheritance.'
13
"What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt,
and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved
and have given us a remnant like this.
14
Shall we again break your commands and intermarry with the peoples
who commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry enough
with us to destroy us no remnant or survivor?
15
O LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous!
We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt,
though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence."