The governor said to them that they could not eat from the holy food of the sanctuary until there was present a priest for the Urim and Thummim.

And they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the {families}, and they said to them, "Let us build with you. Like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing [to him] from the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us up here.

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the {families} of Israel said to them, "[It is] not for you but for us to build a house for our God. For we ourselves alone will build [it] for Yahweh the God of Israel, just as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."

Then we asked those elders and said this to them, 'Who issued forth to you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?'

He said to him, 'Take these vessels. Go put them in the temple in Jerusalem and let the house of God be built on its site.'

For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horses to protect us from enemies on the way because we said to the king, "the hand of our God is favorable to all who seek him, but his strength and anger are against all who forsake them."

And I said to them, "You are holy to Yahweh and the vessels are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh, God of your ancestors.

and said, "My God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God. For our sins have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.

Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, "We ourselves have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, and even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

Then Ezra stood up and made the chief priests, Levites, and all of Israel swear to do according to what was said. So they swore this oath.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have broke faith and married foreign women, increasing the guilt of Israel.

Then all the assembly answered with a great voice and said, "It is so. We must do according to your words.