SCRIPTURES

1 After we finished all these things (RETURNED AND GAVE THE GOLD AND SILVER TO THE TEMPLE AUTHORITIES), the leaders of the Israelites came to me and said, “Ezra, the Israelites have not kept themselves separate from the other people living around us, nor have the Priests and the Levites stayed away from the abominations done by the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites, but are being influenced by their evil lifestyles. 2 Th

1 Ezra was praying and confessing. He was crying and bowing down in front of YAHUAH’s Temple. While Ezra was doing that, a large group of the Israelites (men, women, and children) gathered around him. They were crying too (AT THE SIGHT OF THEIR LEADER BROKEN AND WAILING LOUDLY). 2 Then Shecaniah (son of Jehiel), one of the descendants of Elam, spoke to Ezra and said, “We have not been obedient to YAHUAH. We have married the people living around us. But, even though we have do