Ezra 9
9
Ezra's Prayer of Confession
1Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Per´izzites, the Jeb´usites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. 3And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished. 4Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. 5And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, 6and said,
O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. 7Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8And now for a little space grace hath been showed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. 9For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
10And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, 11which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. 12#Exod 34.11-16; Deut 7.1-5. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. 13And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; 14should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? 15O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
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Ezra 9: KJVAAE
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
Ezra 9
9
1Some time later after all this had happened, the leaders#9:1. These were civil leaders, not religious leaders. came and told me, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the people around us whose disgusting religious practices are similar to those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. 2Some Israelites have even married women from these people, both themselves and their sons, mixing the holy race with these people of the land. Our leaders and officials are at the forefront of this sinful behavior.”
3When I heard about this, I tore my clothes, pulled out some hair from my head and beard, and sat down, absolutely appalled. 4Everyone who respected the instructions of the God of Israel#9:4. “Everyone who respected the instructions of the God of Israel”: literally, “Everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel.” The emphasis here is not so much fear but an openness to instruction and obedience to what God had said. gathered around me because of this sin on the part of the exiles. I sat there shocked and appalled until the evening sacrifice.
5At the evening sacrifice, I stood up from where I had been sitting in grief, with my clothes torn, and I kneeled down and held out my hands to the Lord my God. 6I prayed, “My God, I am so ashamed and embarrassed to come and pray to you,#9:6. “To come and pray to you”: literally, “to lift up my face to you.” my God, because we are in over our heads in sin, and our guilt has risen to the heavens. 7From the time of our forefathers to now, we have been deeply guilty. Because of our sins, we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the earth, killed and taken prisoner, robbed and humiliated, just like we are today.
8Now for a short time the Lord our God has given us grace, preserving a few of us as a remnant, and giving us safety#9:8. “Safety”: literally, “tent peg.” in his holy place. Our God has brightened our lives#9:8. “Lives”: literally, “eyes.” by giving us some relief from our slavery. 9Though we are slaves, our God did not abandon us in our slavery, but he showed us his trustworthy love by making the kings of Persia kind to us, by reviving us so we could rebuild the Temple of our God and repair its ruined state, and by giving us a wall of protection around Judah and Jerusalem.
10But now, our God, what do we have to say for ourselves after all this? For we have given up following your commands 11that you gave through your servants the prophets, telling us, ‘The land you are entering to become its owners is contaminated by the sins of its peoples, the disgusting religious practices that they have filled it with, from one side to the other. 12So do not let your daughters marry their sons, or allow their daughters marry your sons. Never make a peace or friendship treaty with them, so that you may live well and eat the good food the land produces, and give the land as an inheritance to your children forever.’
13Now that we are receiving all this punishment because of our sinful actions and our terrible guilt—though you, our God, have not punished us as much as our sins deserve, and have still given us this remnant#9:13. “Remnant”: referring to those who had returned from exile.— 14shall we break your commandments once again and intermarry with the peoples who commit these disgusting religious practices? Wouldn't you become so angry with us that you would destroy us? No remnant would be left, not a single survivor. 15Lord, God of Israel, you do what is right. Today we're all that is left, a remnant. We are before you in our guilt, but no one can stand before you because of it.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com