When the people of Israel heard this law read, they excluded all foreigners from the community.

I purified the people from everything foreign; I prepared regulations for the priests and the Levites so that all of them would know their duties;

Jewish men were marrying foreign women, and so God's holy people had become contaminated. The leaders and officials were the chief offenders.

Now then, confess your sins to the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do what pleases him. Separate yourselves from the foreigners living in our land and get rid of your foreign wives."

Reach down from above, pull me out of the deep water, and rescue me; save me from the power of foreigners,

Save me from my cruel enemies; rescue me from the power of foreigners, who never tell the truth and lie even under oath.

O God, you have forsaken your people, the descendants of Jacob! The land is full of magic practices from the East and from Philistia. The people follow foreign customs.

They have been unfaithful to the LORD; their children do not belong to him. So now they and their lands will soon be destroyed.

Look at me, LORD, and hear my prayer, as I pray day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess that we, the people of Israel, have sinned. My ancestors and I have sinned.

The few of you who survive in the land of your enemies will waste away because of your own sin and the sin of your ancestors.

"But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me,

I said, "O God, I am too ashamed to raise my head in your presence. Our sins pile up higher than our heads; they reach as high as the heavens.

From the days of our ancestors until now, we, your people, have sinned greatly. Because of our sins we, our kings, and our priests have fallen into the hands of foreign kings, and we have been slaughtered, robbed, and carried away as prisoners. We have been totally disgraced, as we still are today.

LORD God of Israel, you are just, but you have let us survive. We confess our guilt to you; we have no right to come into your presence."

We have sinned as our ancestors did; we have been wicked and evil.

Our ancestors in Egypt did not understand God's wonderful acts; they forgot the many times he showed them his love, and they rebelled against the Almighty at the Red Sea.

And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.

"We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right.

You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you.

You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you.

But if we live in the light---just as he is in the light---then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.

But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.