Ezra 5:8

5:8 Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. It is being built with large stones, ¹  and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands.

Ezra 9:11

9:11 which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ²  ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! ³  With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.

Ezra 10:1-2

The People Confess Their Sins

10:1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites – men, women, and children alike – gathered around him. The people wept loudly. ⁴  10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, ⁵  addressed Ezra:

“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying ⁶  foreign women from the local peoples. ⁷  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. ⁸ 

Ezra 10:13

10:13 However, the people are numerous and it is the rainy season. ⁹  We are unable to stand here outside. Furthermore, this business cannot be resolved in a day or two, for we have sinned greatly in this matter.

[5:8]  ¹ tn Aram “stones of rolling.” The reference is apparently to stones too large to carry.

[9:11]  ² tn Heb “through your servants the prophets, saying.”

[9:11]  ³ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[10:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “with much weeping.”

[10:2]  ⁵ tc The translation reads with the Qere, many medieval Hebrew MSS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate עֵילָם (’elam, “Elam”) rather than the reading עוֹלָם (’olam, “eternity”) found in the MT.

[10:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.

[10:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[10:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “upon this.”

[10:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “the time [is] rain showers.”