6. Then Ezra left the front of God’s temple and went to the room of Jehohanan, son of Eliashib. Ezra didn’t eat any food or drink any water while he was there. He was mourning because these former exiles had been so unfaithful.
7. Then he sent a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the former exiles must gather in Jerusalem.
8. If any of them didn’t come within three days as the leaders and the older men had advised, then they would lose all their property and be excluded from the community of former exiles.
9. Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered within three days in Jerusalem. On the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the people sat in the courtyard of God’s temple. They were trembling because of this matter and shivering because of the heavy rain.
10. Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women, and now you have added to Israel’s guilt.
11. Confess to the Lord God of your ancestors what you have done, and do what he wants. Separate yourselves from the people of this land and from your foreign wives.”
12. Then the whole assembly shouted in reply, “Yes! We will do as you say.
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.