Ezra’s Prayer About Intermarriage

9 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^(A) from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites,^(B) Ammonites,^(C) Moabites,^(D) Egyptians and Amorites.^(E)

² Then Shekaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam,^(A) said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful^(B) to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.^(C)