¹ Now, when these things were ended, the rulers drew near unto me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not kept themselves separate from the peoples of the lands,—in view of their abominations-even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites;

² for they have taken of their daughters, for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have intermingled themselves among the peoples of the lands,—and, the hand of the rulers and the deputies, hath, in this unfaithfulness, been, foremost.

³ When I heard this thing, I rent my garment, and my robe,—and tore out of the hair of my head and my beard, and sat stunned.

⁴ Then, unto me, were gathered, all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, concerning the unfaithfulness of them who had been exiled,—but, I, sat stunned, until the evening gift.

⁵ And, at the evening gift, I arose from mine affliction, which had been accompanied by the rending of my garment and my robe,—and I bowed upon my knees, and spread forth my hands unto Yahweh my God;

⁶ and said, O my God, I turn pale and am ashamed, to lift up, O my God, my face unto thee,—for, our iniquities, have multiplied above the head, and our guilt hath magnified itself unto the heavens.

⁷ Since the days of our fathers, we, have been in great guilt, until this day,—and, for our iniquities, have we been given up—we, our kings, our priests,—into the hand of the kings of the lands, by sword and by captivity and by spoiling and by a turning pale of face, as at this day.

⁸ And, now, for a very little moment, hath come favour from Yahweh our God, in leaving to us a remnant to escape, and in giving to us a nail in his holy place,—that our God may enlighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

⁹ For, bondmen, we are, but, in our bondage, hath our God not forsaken us,—but extended unto us lovingkindness before the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up on high the house of our God, to raise up the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

¹⁰ But, now, what can we say, O our God, after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

¹¹ which thou didst command by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying, As for the land which, ye, are entering to possess, an impure land, it is, with the impurity of the peoples of the lands,—with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to the other, with their uncleanness.

¹² Now, therefore, your daughters, do not ye give to their sons, and, their daughters, do not ye take for your sons, neither shall ye seek their prosperity nor their pleasure unto times age-abiding,—to the end ye may become strong, and may eat the good of the land, and may suffer your children to possess it, unto times age-abiding.

¹³ And, after all that hath come upon us, for our wicked doings, and for our great guilt—For, thou, O our God, hast spared us, punishing us less than our iniquities deserved, and hast given us a deliverance such as this,

¹⁴ should we again break thy commandments and join ourselves by affinity of marriage with the peoples of these abominations,—wouldst thou not be angry with us, unto a full end, that there should be neither remainder nor deliverance?

¹⁵ O Yahweh, God of Israel, righteous thou art, for we have had left us a deliverance as at this day,—here we are, before thee, in our guilty deeds, for there is no standing before thee, because of this thing!