Ezra 9:1-4 ▼

1 NOW when these things were completed, the elders came to me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Ammonites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mixed themselves with the people of the lands; and the hand of the elders and the Levites have been first in this iniquity.

3 And when I heard this thing, I tore my garments and my mantle and pulled the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down speechless.

4 Then all those who were diligent concerning the word of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of the exiles, assembled before me; and I sat speechless until the ninth hour.