Ezra 9:2-4

New English Translation

² Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race^[a] has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all this unfaithfulness!”

³ When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and my robe and ripped out some of the hair from my head and beard. Then I sat down, quite devastated. ⁴ Everyone who held the words of the God of Israel in awe^[b] gathered around me because of the unfaithful acts of the people of the exile.^[c] Devastated, I continued to sit there until the evening offering.