and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the rulers and elders, all his property would be destroyed, and he himself would be excluded from the assembly of those from the captivity.

When the rulers of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house to the house of Jehovah, and sat down in the entrance of the New Gate of Jehovah's house.

Then the rulers and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God.

Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land in order to seek Jehovah the God of Israel.

And they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for Jehovah had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have transgressed and have dwelt with foreign women, adding to the guilt of Israel.

Now therefore, make confession to Jehovah the God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women.

For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your eyes, except You go with us? So we shall be distinct, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.

For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. Behold, a people dwelling alone, not being reckoned among the nations.

Then the seed of Israel separated themselves from the children of the foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.

Depart! Depart! Go out from there! Touch not the unclean. Go out of her midst; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of Jehovah.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you have dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances.

Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have been defiled;

You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native nor any stranger who sojourns among you

that the land not also vomit you out when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

Therefore you shall keep My charge, so that you do not do any of these abominable customs which were done before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am Jehovah your God.

take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.

You shall not do so unto Jehovah your God; for everything that is an abomination to Jehovah which He has hated, they have done unto their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire unto their gods.

When you come into the land which Jehovah your God is giving to you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations.

And he did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah had cast out before the children of Israel.

but they mingled with the nations and learned their works;

Behold, you are called a Jew, and rest on the Law, and make your boast in God,

and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?

You who make your boast in the Law, do you dishonor God through transgressing the Law?

For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

But in the fourth generation they shall return here; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

but you shall destroy to exterminate them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, as Jehovah your God has commanded you;

that they not teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done unto their gods, and you sin against Jehovah your God.

An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation none of them shall enter the assembly of Jehovah, perpetually;

Nevertheless Jehovah your God would not listen to Balaam, but Jehovah your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Jehovah your God has loved you.

But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites;

For Solomon departed after Ashtaroth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

And Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.

And it came to pass, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem had been restored up and the gaps had begun to be closed, that they were greatly infuriated,

On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the ears of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should come into the assembly of God forever,

So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.

And Israel remained in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab.

And Israel was joined to Baal-peor, and the anger of Jehovah burned against Israel.