Ezra 10:11

10:11 Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents ¹  and from these foreign wives.”

Ezra 3:3

3:3 They established the altar on its foundations, even though they were in terror of the local peoples, ²  and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and the evening offerings.

Ezra 10:2

10:2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, ³  addressed Ezra:

“We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying ⁴  foreign women from the local peoples. ⁵  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard. ⁶ 

Ezra 9:1-2

A Prayer of Ezra

9:1 Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ⁷  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ⁸  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Ezra 9:7

9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ⁹  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ¹⁰  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

Ezra 9:11

9:11 which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ¹¹  ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! ¹²  With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.

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¹ tn Heb “the peoples of the land.”

² tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

³ tc The translation reads with the Qere, many medieval Hebrew MSS, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate עֵילָם (’elam, “Elam”) rather than the reading עוֹלָם (’olam, “eternity”) found in the MT.

⁴ tn Heb “in that we have given a dwelling to.” So also in vv. 14, 17, 18.

⁵ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

⁶ tn Heb “upon this.”

⁷ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.” So also in v. 2.

⁸ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

⁹ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

¹⁰ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

¹¹ tn Heb “through your servants the prophets, saying.”

¹² tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”