9 So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and aall the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of heavy rain.
10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have1 transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel.
11 Now therefore, amake confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; bseparate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives.”
12 Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “Yes! As you have said, so we must do.
13 But thereare many people; itis the season for heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor isthis the work of one or two days, for thereare many of us who have transgressed in this matter.
14 Please, let the leaders of our entire assembly stand; and let all those in our cities who have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until athe fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”
15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and aMeshullam and Shabbethai the Levite gave them support.
16 Then the descendants of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain aheads of the fathers’ households, were set apart by the fathers’ households, each of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
17 By the first day of the first month they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan wives.
Pagan Wives Put Away
18 And among the sons of the priests who had taken pagan wives thefollowing were found of the sons of aJeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.
19 And they agave their promise that they would put away their wives; and beingbguilty, theypresented a ram of the flock as their ctrespass offering.
20 Also of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah;
21 of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah;
Ezra the priest stood up, and said—Having fully represented the enormity of their sin and urged them to dissolve their unlawful connections, he was gratified by receiving a prompt acknowledgment of the justice of his reproof and a promise of compliance with his recommendation. But as the weather was ungenial and the defaulters were too numerous to be passed in review at one time, it was resolved that a commission should be appointed to examine into the whole matter. These commissioners, assisted by the judges and elders of the respective cities, made a minute investigation into every case, and after three months' labor completely removed all traces of the abuse. Doubtless, an adequate provision was made for the repudiated wives and children, according to the means and circumstances of the husbands.
Ezra 10:9-11
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin—The returned captives belonged chiefly to these tribes; but other Israelites are also included under these names, as they all were then occupying the territory formerly assigned to those two tribes.
It was the ninth month—that is, between the end of December and the beginning of January, which is the coldest and most rainy season of the year in Palestine.
all the people sat in the street—that is, the court.
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