Ezra 9
Ezra's Prayer of
Confession |
1 |
Now when these things were done, the
princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests,
and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of
the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Per'izzites, the Jeb'usites,
the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the
Amorites.
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2 |
For they have taken of their daughters
for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have
mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the
hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this
trespass.
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3 |
And when I heard this thing, I rent my
garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my
beard, and sat down astonished.
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4 |
Then were assembled unto me every one
that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the
transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat
astonished until the evening sacrifice.
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5 |
And at the evening sacrifice I arose up
from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell
upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,
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6 |
and said,
O my God, I am ashamed and
blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are
increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto
the heavens.
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7 |
Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our
iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been
delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to
captivity, and to a spoil and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
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8 |
And now for a little space grace hath
been showed from the LORD our God, to
leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy
place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little
reviving in our bondage.
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9 |
For we were bondmen; yet our God
hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us
in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set
up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and
to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
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10 |
And now, O our God, what shall we say
after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
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11 |
which thou hast commanded by thy servants
the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is
an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with
their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another
with their uncleanness.
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12 |
Now therefore give not your daughters
unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, Ex.
34.11-16 · Deut. 7.1-5 nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be
strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an
inheritance to your children for ever.
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13 |
And after all that is come upon us for
our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God
hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast
given us such deliverance as this;
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14 |
should we again break thy commandments,
and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest
not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so
that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
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15 |
O LORD God of
Israel, thou art righteous; for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our
trespasses; for we cannot stand before thee because of
this.
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