Some of the {Israelites}, some priests and Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

And some of the heads of the fathers' houses, when they came to the house of the LORD which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in its place:

So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim, dwelt in their towns, and all Israel in their towns.

All these had taken foreign wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

Indeed, the Israelite men have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has become mixed with the surrounding peoples. The leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!”

When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard, and sat down devastated.