²² “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman;^(A) that is detestable.^(B)

²³ “‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.^(C)

²⁴ “‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you^(D) became defiled.^{(E) 25} Even the land was defiled;^(F) so I punished it for its sin,^(G) and the land vomited out its inhabitants.^{(H) 26} But you must keep my decrees and my laws.^(I) The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things, ²⁷ for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. ²⁸ And if you defile the land,^(J) it will vomit you out^(K) as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

²⁹ “‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things—such persons must be cut off from their people. ³⁰ Keep my requirements^(L) and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God.^(M)’”

Ezra’s Prayer About Intermarriage

9 After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate^(A) from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites,^(B) Ammonites,^(C) Moabites,^(D) Egyptians and Amorites.^{(E) 2} They have taken some of their daughters^(F) as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled^(G) the holy race^(H) with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.”^(I)

³ When I heard this, I tore^(J) my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.^{(K) 4} Then everyone who trembled^(L) at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness of the exiles. And I sat there appalled^(M) until the evening sacrifice.

⁵ Then, at the evening sacrifice,^(N) I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands^(O) spread out to the Lord my God ⁶ and prayed:

⁴ Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms^(A) of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah,^{(B) 5} and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes^(C) of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.

⁶ But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes^(D) king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission ⁷ and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib^(E) had done in providing Tobiah^(F) a room in the courts of the house of God. ⁸ I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.^{(G) 9} I gave orders to purify the rooms,^(H) and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.^(I)