1 After these matters were completed, the leaders {sarim: official representatives} came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the peoples of the lands; they have acted according to their abominations {toevah: ritually detestable practices}—those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.”
2 For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed has become mixed with the peoples of the lands. The officials and deputies were foremost in this unfaithfulness {ma'al: covenant breach} and served as the chief offenders {rishonah: primary transgressors}.
3 When I heard this report, I tore my tunic {bigdi: inner garment} and my robe, plucked hair from my head and my beard, and sat in profound dismay {meshomem: utter devastation}.
4 Everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel{Elohei Yisrael, Divine Lawgiver} drew near to me on account of the unfaithfulness of the returning exiles, and I sat appalled until the evening offering{minchah: grain sacrifice}.
5 At the evening offering {minchah: grain sacrifice at dusk}, I rose from my fasting {taanith: act of humbling myself}, and with my garment and my robe torn, I knelt down and spread out my hands to the LORD my God {YHWH Elohai, Faithful Hearer}.
6 I said, “My God {Elohai, Covenant Judge}, I am ashamed and humiliated even to lift my gaze toward You, my God, for our iniquities {avonot: moral failures} tower above our head, and our guilt has swelled to the heavens.”
7 From the days of our fathers {avoteinu: ancestral lineage} until this day, our guilt has grown great. Because of our iniquities {avonoteinu: moral transgressions}, we, along with our kings and our priests, were delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands—to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to shame of face, as it is this day.
8 But now, for a brief interval, favor has come from the LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu, Merciful Restorer} to leave us a remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place to enlighten our eyes {eineinu: perception} and to grant us a little reviving in our servitude.
9 For we are servants, and yet our God {Eloheinu: Faithful Deliverer} did not forsake us in our servitude {avdatenu: subjugated state}. Rather, He extended steadfast love to us before the kings of Persia, granting us renewal so that we could raise up the house of our God, restore its ruins, and provide us with a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
10 And now, our God {Eloheinu, Covenant Judge}, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments {mitsvotekha: prescribed decrees}.
11 You {YHWH, Divine Commander} commanded through Your servants, the prophets, saying, “The land you are entering to possess is a land of impurity {niddah: ritual defilement}; because of the impurity of the peoples of the lands and their abominations, they have filled it from one end to the other with their uncleanness.”
12 Therefore, do not give your daughters to their sons, and do not take their daughters for your sons. Do not pursue their peace or their good forever, so that you may be strong {techezku: become strong} and eat the goodness of the land {haaretz: ancestral territory}, and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.
13 After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt, You, our God {Eloheinu, Merciful Judge}, have dealt with us more leniently than our iniquities warranted, and You have given us a remnant {pleitah: surviving group}.
14 Shall we turn back to break Your {YHWH, Avenging Judge} commandments {mitzvot: binding instructions} and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would You not become angry with us until You had consumed us, leaving no remnant or survivor?
15 LORD God of Israel {YHWH Elohei Yisrael, Divine Upholder}, You are righteous. For we have been preserved as a remnant on this day. Look, we are before You in our guilt {ashmah: liability for sin}, for none can stand before You because of this.