91 Now when these things were completed, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to 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, and have mingled the holy seed with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this unfaithfulness. 3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my mantle and my garment, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down overwhelmed. 4 Then were assembled to me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the unfaithfulness of those that had been carried away; and I sat overwhelmed until the evening oblation.
5 And at the evening oblation I arose up from my humiliation; and with my mantle and my garment rent, I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Jehovah my God, 6 and 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 to the heavens. 7 Since the days of our fathers, we have been in great trespass to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, our priests, have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, and to captivity, and to spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. 8 And now for a little space there hath been favour from Jehovah 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. 9 For we are bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us before the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God and to repair the ruins thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 10 And now, what shall we say, our God, after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, 11 which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess [it], is an unclean land through the filthiness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations with which they have filled it from one end to another through their uncleanness. 12 Now therefore give not your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity 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. 13 And 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, 14 should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples of these abominations? wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor any to escape? 15 Jehovah, God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we are a remnant that is escaped, as [it is] this day. Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; for there is no standing before thee because of this.
101 And while Ezra prayed, and made confession, weeping and falling down before the house of God, there were gathered to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children; for the people wept very much. 2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have acted unfaithfully toward our God, and have taken foreign wives of the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. 3 And now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of [my] lord, and of those that tremble at the commandments of our God; and let it be done according to the law. 4 Arise, for this matter is incumbent on thee, and we will be with thee: be of good courage, and do [it]. 5 Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, of the Levites, and of all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. And they swore.
6 And Ezra arose from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came thither, he ate no bread and drank no water; for he mourned because of the unfaithfulness of them that had been carried away. 7 And they made proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem; 8 and that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be confiscated, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away. 9 Then were all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the open space of the house of God, trembling because of the matter, and because of the pouring rain. 10 And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, Ye have acted unfaithfully, and have taken foreign wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. 11 And now make confession to Jehovah the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign wives. 12 And the whole congregation answered and said with a loud voice, Yes, it is for us to do according to thy words. 13 But the people are many, and it is a time of pouring rain, and it is not possible to stand without: neither is this a work for one day or two; for we are many that have transgressed in this thing. 14 Let now our princes, while this matter is going on, stand for all the congregation, and let all those that have taken foreign wives in our cities come at the appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce anger of our God be turned from us.
15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. 16 And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest [and] certain of the chief fathers were separated according to their fathers' houses, and all of them [expressed] by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. 17 And they ended with all the men that had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month. 18 And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken foreign wives, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren: Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. 19 And they gave their hand to send away their wives; and they offered a ram of the flock, as trespass-offering for their guilt. 20 And of the children of Immer: Hanani, and Zebadiah. 21 And of the children of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. 22 And of the children of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah. 23 And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. 24 And of the singers: Eliashib. And of the doorkeepers: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri. 25 And of Israel; of the children of Parosh: Ramiah, and Jizzijah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. 26 And of the children of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah. 27 And of the children of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. 28 And of the children of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. 29 And of the children of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth. 30 And of the children of Pahath-Moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. 31 And the children of Harim: Eliezer, Jishijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Simeon, 32 Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah. 33 Of the children of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei. 34 Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel, 35 Benaiah, Bediah, Cheluhu, 36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, 37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasai, 38 and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, 39 and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, 40 Machnadbai, Shashai, Sharai, 41 Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, 42 Shallum, Amariah, Joseph. 43 Of the children of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, and Joel, Benaiah. 44 All these had taken foreign wives; and there were among them wives who had had children.
11 I composed the first discourse, O Theophilus, concerning all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach, 2 until that day in which, having by the Holy Spirit charged the apostles whom he had chosen, he was taken up; 3 to whom also he presented himself living, after he had suffered, with many proofs; being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things which concern the kingdom of God; 4 and, being assembled with [them], commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which [said he] ye have heard of me. 5 For John indeed baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit after now not many days.
6 They therefore, being come together, asked him saying, Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said to them, It is not yours to know times or seasons, which the Father has placed in his own authority; 8 but ye will receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 9 And having said these things he was taken up, they beholding [him], and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing into heaven, as he was going, behold, also two men stood by them in white clothing, 11 who also said, Men of Galilee, why do ye stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld him going into heaven.
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called [the mount] of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath-day's journey off. 13 And when they were come into [the city], they went up to the upper chamber, where were staying both Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James [son] of Alphaeus, and Simon the zealot, and Jude [the brother] of James. 14 These gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer, with [several] women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
15 And in those days Peter, standing up in the midst of the brethren, said, (the crowd of names [who were] together [was] about a hundred and twenty,) 16 Brethren, it was necessary that the scripture should have been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before, by the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who became guide to those who took Jesus; 17 for he was numbered amongst us, and had received a part in this service. 18 (This [man] then indeed got a field with [the] reward of iniquity, and, having fallen down headlong, burst in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it was known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their own dialect Aceldama; that is, field of blood.) 20 For it is written in [the] book of Psalms, Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no dweller in it; and, Let another take his overseership. 21 It is necessary therefore, that of the men who have assembled with us all [the] time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which he was taken up from us, one of these should be a witness with us of his resurrection. 23 And they appointed two, Joseph, who was called Barsabas, who had been surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed, and said, Thou Lord, knower of the hearts of all, shew which one of these two thou hast chosen, 25 to receive the lot of this service and apostleship, from which Judas transgressing fell to go to his own place. 26 And they gave lots on them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
