Ezra 10:10-19

10Then Ezra the priest stood up. He said to the people, ‘You have not been faithful to your God. You have married foreign wives. You have caused the whole nation of Israel to be guilty.

11Now you must agree to obey the Lord, the God that your ancestors worshipped. Turn away from your sins and do the things that please him. Make yourselves separate from the foreign people who live near you. Send away your foreign wives.’

12All the people spoke with a loud voice. They said, ‘You are right. We will do as you say.

13But we are many people and we cannot continue to stand here in the heavy rain. We will need more than one or two days to do what we must do. There are many of us who have done this bad sin.

14So please let our officers decide what to do on behalf of us all. People who have married foreign wives should come here on certain days. People from each town should come on the right day, together with the leaders and judges from that town. In this way, we can make things right. Then our God will not be angry with us any longer.’

15Only four men did not agree with this. They were Asahel's son, Jonathan, Tikvah's son, Jahzeiah, as well as Meshullam and Shabbethai, the Levite.

16So the Jews who had returned from Babylon did what they had agreed to do. Ezra the priest chose family leaders for each clan. He wrote down their names. The leaders met together to decide what to do. They started on the first day of the tenth month.

17They finished on the first day of the first month of the new year.

18These are the priests who had married foreign wives. From the clan of Jozadak's son, Jeshua, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, Gedaliah.

19These men promised to send away their wives. Each of them gave a male sheep as a sacrifice because they were guilty.