13. But the crowd is too large, and it’s the rainy season. We can’t take care of this outside. Besides, there are so many of us who are involved in this sin that it can’t be taken care of in a day or two.
14. Let our leaders represent the whole community. At a set time, everyone who has married a foreign woman must meet with the leaders and judges of each city until our God’s burning anger has turned away from us in this matter.”
15. (Only Jonathan, Asahel’s son, and Jahzeiah, Tikvah’s son, opposed this. Meshullam and Shabbethai, the Levite, supported Jonathan and Jahzeiah.)
16. The former exiles did this. Ezra the priest chose men who were heads of families. He chose one from each family division. (They were all ⌊listed⌋ by name.) They sat down on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter.
17. By the first day of the first month, they had finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women.
18. Among the descendants of the priests, the following were married to foreign women: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah, a descendant of Jeshua (who was Jozadak’s son) and his brothers.
19. They shook hands as a pledge that they would get rid of their wives. They sacrificed a ram from their flock as an offering for guilt because they were guilty.
20. From the descendants of Immer:Hanani and Zebadiah
21. From the descendants of Harim:Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah
22. From the descendants of Pashhur:Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah