10 1 The people repent and turn, and put away their strange wives.

While Ezra prayed thus, and [a]confessed himself weeping, and falling down before the house of God, there assembled unto him of Israel a very great Congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept with a great lamentation.

Then Shechaniah the son of Jehiel one of the sons of Elam answered, and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land, yet now there is [b]hope in Israel concerning this.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezra 10:1 He confessed his sins, and the sins of the people.
  2. Ezra 10:2 Meaning, that God would receive them to mercy.

The People’s Confession of Sin

10 While Ezra was praying and confessing,(A) weeping(B) and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly. Then Shekaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam,(C) said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful(D) to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.(E)

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