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10 As Ezra was praying his confession and weeping and bowing on the steps of the True God’s temple, a huge group of Israelite men, women, and children joined him in weeping. Shecaniah (son of Jehiel the Elamite) then spoke up.

Shecaniah and his family had returned to Jerusalem at the first opportunity 60 years earlier.

Shecaniah: You are right. We have forgotten our True God and have married foreign women from pagan nations. But there is hope for Israel yet. We shall make a new covenant with our True God, promising to banish our foreign wives and their children. You and the others who follow the laws of our True God must guide us in this, so that we obey the law.

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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) Now let us make a covenant(F) before our God to send away(G) all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law.

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