Chapter 8 _{78 And now in some measure hath mercy been shewed unto us from thee, O Lord, that there should be left us a root and a name in the place of thy sanctuary;79 And to discover unto us a light in the house of the Lord our God, and to give us food in the time of our servitude.80 Yea, when we were in bondage, we were not forsaken of our Lord; but he made us gracious before the kings of Persia, so that they gave us food;81 Yea, and honoured the temple of our Lord, and raised up the desolate Sion, that they have given us a sure abiding in Jewry and Jerusalem.82 And now, O Lord, what shall we say, having these things? for we have transgressed thy commandments, which thou gavest by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying,83 That the land, which ye enter into to possess as an heritage, is a land polluted with the pollutions of the strangers of the land, and they have filled it with their uncleanness.84 Therefore now shall ye not join your daughters unto their sons, neither shall ye take their daughters unto your sons.85 Moreover ye shall never seek to have peace with them, that ye may be strong, and eat the good things of the land, and that ye may leave the inheritance of the land unto your children for evermore.86 And all that is befallen is done unto us for our wicked works and great sins; for thou, O Lord, didst make our sins light,87 And didst give unto us such a root: but we have turned back again to transgress thy law, and to mingle ourselves with the uncleanness of the nations of the land.88 Mightest not thou be angry with us to destroy us, till thou hadst left us neither root, seed, nor name?89 O Lord of Israel, thou art true: for we are left a root this day.90 Behold, now are we before thee in our iniquities, for we cannot stand any longer by reason of these things before thee.91 And as Esdras in his prayer made his confession, weeping, and lying flat upon the ground before the temple, there gathered unto him from Jerusalem a very great multitude of men and women and children: for there was great weeping among the multitude.92 Then Jechonias the son of Jeelus, one of the sons of Israel, called out, and said, O Esdras, we have sinned against the Lord God, we have married strange women of the nations of the land, and now is all Israel aloft.93 Let us make an oath to the Lord, that we will put away all our wives, which we have taken of the heathen, with their children,94 Like as thou hast decreed, and as many as do obey the law of the Lord.95 Arise and put in execution: for to thee doth this matter appertain, and we will be with thee: do valiantly.96 So Esdras arose, and took an oath of the chief of the priests and Levites of all Israel to do after these things; and so they sware.}