Old/New Testament

9 Now when these things were completed, the sarim came to me, saying, HaAm Yisroel, and the Kohanim, and the Levi’im, have not separated themselves from the Am HaAretz, doing according to their abominations, even of the Kena’ani, the Chitti, the Perizzi, the Yevusi, the Ammoni, the Moavi, the Egyptians, and the Emori.

² For they have taken of their banot for themselves, and for their banim, so that the zera hakodesh have mingled themselves with the Am HaAretz; yea, the yad of the sarim (princes) and officials hath been chief in this trespass.

³ And when I heard this thing, I made keriah of my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down appalled.

⁴ Then were assembled around me every one that trembled at the Divrei Elohei Yisroel, because of the transgression of those of the Golus; and I sat appalled until the minchat haerev.

⁵ And at the minchat haerev I arose up from my abasement, and having made the keriah of my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto Hashem Elohai,

⁶ And davened, O Elohai, I am ashamed and am disgraced to lift up my face to thee, Elohai, for avonoteinu are increased over our head, and ashmateinu (our guilt) is reached up unto Shomayim.

⁷ Since the days of Avoteinu have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for avonoteinu have we, our melachim, and our Kohanim, been delivered into the hand of the melachim of the lands, to the cherev, to captivity, and to spoil, and to humiliation of face, as it is this day.

⁸ And now for a little space grace hath been shown from Hashem Eloheinu, to leave us to escape a she’ar (remnant), and to give us a peg in his Makom Kodesh, that Eloheinu may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

⁹ For we were avadim; yet Eloheinu hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended chesed unto us in the sight of the Melachim of Paras (Persia), to give us a reviving, to set up the Beis Eloheinu, and to repair the ruins thereof, and to give us a wall in Yehudah and in Yerushalayim.

¹⁰ And now, O Eloheinu, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Thy mitzvot,

¹¹ Which Thou hast commanded by Thy avadim the nevi’im, saying, HaAretz, unto which ye go to possess it, is an eretz niddah (unclean land) with the filthiness of the Am HaAretz, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their tum’a.

¹² Now therefore give not your banot unto their banim, neither take their banot unto your banim, nor further their shalom or their prosperity ad olam, that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land and leave it for your banim ad olam.

¹³ And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that Thou Eloheinu hast punished us less than avoneinu deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this,

¹⁴ Should we again break Thy mitzvot, and join in affinity with the people of these to’evot (abominations)? Wouldest not Thou be angry with us till Thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no she’erit (remnant) nor escaping?

¹⁵ Hashem Elohei Yisroel, Thou art tzaddik; for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day; hineni, we are before Thee in our guilt, though we cannot stand before Thee because of it.

10 Now while Ezra was davening and making vidduy, weeping and prostrating himself before the Beis HaElohim, a Kahal rav me’od, anashim, nashim, and yeladim, gathered to him from Yisroel, for the people wept bitterly.

² And Shechanyah ben Yechiel, of the Bnei Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have been unfaithful to Eloheinu, have married foreign am ha’aretz women; yet now there is mikveh for Yisroel in spite of this.

³ So now let us make a Brit with Eloheinu to put away all nashim and that born of them, according to the counsel of Adonoi and the charedim at the mitzvot of Eloheinu; and let it be done according to the Torah.

⁴ Arise! For this matter is your responsibility; but we will be with you; chazak and act.

⁵ Then Ezra rose and made the leading Kohanim, the Levi’im, and kol Yisroel take an oath that they would do according to this proposal; so they took the oath.

⁶ Then Ezra arose from before the Beis HaElohim and went into the chamber of Yehochanan ben Elyashiv. Although he went there, he did not eat lechem, nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of those of the Golus.

⁷ And they issued a proclamation throughout Yehudah and Yerushalayim to all the Banim of the Golus, that they should assemble at Yerushalayim

⁸ And that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the sarim and the zekenim, all his possessions should be forfeited and he himself excluded from the Kahal of those of the Golus.

⁹ So all the men of Yehudah and Benyamin assembled at Yerushalayim within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and kol HaAm sat in the rechov before the Beis HaElohim, distressed by the occasion and the heavy rain.

¹⁰ Then Ezra HaKohen stood up and said to them, You have been unfaithful and have married foreign women adding to Ashmat Yisroel.

¹¹ Now, therefore, make confession to Hashem Elohei Avoteichem and do His will; separate yourselves from the am ha’aretz and from the foreign women.

¹² Then Kol HaKahal answered and said with a kol gadol, Ken! As you have said, so it is our duty to do.

¹³ But there are Am rav, it is the rainy season, and we are not able to stand bachotz (outside). Nor can the matter be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.

¹⁴ Let our leaders represent the Kol HaKahal and let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at appointed times, together with the ziknei ir and shofetim of each town until the charon af Eloheinu on account of this matter is turned away from us.

¹⁵ Only Yonatan ben Asah’el and Yachzeyah ben Tikvah supported by Meshulam and Shabtai the Levi stood opposed.

¹⁶ But the Banim of the Golus did so. And Ezra HaKohen selected anashim who were Rashei HaAvot for each of their father’s households, all of them by shemot. So they convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter.

¹⁷ And they finished investigating all men who had married foreign women by the 1st day of the 1st month.

¹⁸ And among the Bnei HaKohanim who had married foreign women were found of the Bnei Yeshua ben Yotzadak, and his brothers; Ma’aseiyah, Eliezer, Yariv, and Gedalyah.

¹⁹ And they pledged to put away their women, and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their asham.

²⁰ And of the Bnei Immer there were Chanani and Zevadyah;

²¹ and of the Bnei of Charim; Ma’aseiyah, Eliyah, Shemayah, Yechiel, and Uzziyah;

²² and of the Bnei of Pashchur; Elyoeinai, Ma’aseiyah, Yishmael, Netanel, Yozavad, and Elasah.

²³ And of Levi’im there were Yozavad, Shimei, Kelayah (that is, Kelita), Petachyah, Yehudah, and Eliezer.

²⁴ And of the singers there was Elyashiv; and of the gatekeepers; Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵ And of Yisroel, of the Bnei of Parosh there were Ramyah, Yizziyah, Malchiyah, Miyamin, Eleazar, Malkiyah, and Benayah;

²⁶ And of the Bnei Elam; Mattanyah, Zecharyah, Yechi’el, Avdi, Yeremot, and Eliyah;

²⁷ And of the Bnei Zattu; Elyoeinai, Elyashiv, Mattanyah, Yeremot, Zavad, and Aziza;

²⁸ And of the Bnei Bevai; Yehochanan, Chananyah, Zabbai, and Atlai;

²⁹ And of the Bnei Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adayah, Yashuv, Sheal, and Ramot;

³⁰ And of the Bnei Pachat-Moav; Adna, Kelal, Benayah, Ma’aseiyah, Mattanyah, Betzalel, Binnui, and Menasheh;

³¹ And of the Bnei Charim; Eliezer; Yishiyah, Malkiyah, Shemayah, Shim’on,

³² Benyamin, Malluch, and Shemaryah;

³³ Of the Bnei of Chashum; Matnai, Mattattah, Zavad, Eliphelet, Yeremai, Manasheh, and Shimei;

³⁴ Of the Bnei Bani; Ma’adai, Amram, U’el,

³⁵ Benayah, Bedyah, Keluhi,

³⁶ Vanyah, Meremot, Elyashiv,

³⁷ Mattanyah, Mattnai, Ya’asai,

³⁸ Bani, Binnui, Shimei,

³⁹ Shelemyah, Natan, Adayah,

⁴⁰ Machnavdai, Shashai, Sharai,

⁴¹ Azarel, Shelemyah, Shemaryah,

⁴² Shallum, Amaryah, and Yosef.

⁴³ Of the Bnei Nevo there were Ye’iel, Mattityah, Zavad, Zevina, Yadai, Yoel, and Benayah.

⁴⁴ All these had taken foreign women, and some of them wives by whom they had banim.

1 In the sefer harishon I wrote about everything, O Theophilus, about Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua, both what he began to do and the shiurim he began to say,

² Until HaYom, when he made aliyah ascent to Shomayim, having given Moshiach’s mitzvot through the Ruach Hakodesh to the Shlichim whom he chose,

³ To whom also he presented himself chai (alive), after his Messianic yissurim (sufferings), by many convincing proofs, during arba’im yamim appearing to his Shlichim and speaking concerning the Malchut Hashem:

⁴ And, while gathering them at a yechidus, Moshiach gave instructions to them not to depart from Yerushalayim, but to wait for the havtachah (promise) of [Elohim] HaAv which he said, "You heard of from Me. [TEHILLIM 27:14]

⁵ "For Yochanan gave a tevilah of teshuva with a mikveh mayim, but you will receive a tevilah in the Ruach Hakodesh not many yamim from now." [YOEL 3:1;(2:28)]

⁶ And at yechidus, having come together, they were asking him saying, "Adoneinu, is it at this time that You are restoring the Malchut Hashem to Am Yisroel?"

⁷ But he said to them, "It is not for you to have da’as of the itim (times) or moadim (seasons) which [Elohim] HaAv has set by His own samchut (authority). [Dt 29:29; Ps 107:13]

⁸ "But you will receive ko’ach when the Ruach Hakodesh has come upon you, and you all will be the Eidus (the Witness) of me, in Yerushalayim, and in all Yehudah, and Shomron and as far as ad ketzeh ha’aretz."

⁹ And having said these things, while they were looking on, in an aliyah ascent to Shomayim, Moshiach was taken up; and an anan (cloud) took him away from their eyes.

¹⁰ And as they were gazing intently into Shomayim, while Moshiach was going—hinei—two beings, enrobed in white, had been present with them.

¹¹ Also, these said, "Men of the Galil, why do you stand looking into Shomayim? This Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua, the one having been taken up from you into Shomayim, will also come again in like manner as you saw him going into Shomayim."

¹² Then they returned to Yerushalayim from Har HaZeytim, which from Yerushalayim is a Shabbos walk.

¹³ And when they entered, they went up to the aliyyah where they were staying, that is, Kefa and Yochanan and Ya’akov and Andrew and Philippos and T’oma and Bar-Talmai and Mattityahu and Ya’akov Ben Chalfai and Shimon the Zealot and Yehudah Ben Ya’akov.

¹⁴ These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to tefillah, with the nashim and with Miryam the Em of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach and with his achim.

¹⁵ And at this time, having stood up, Kefa, in the midst of the Achim b’Moshiach (there were 120 persons in the place)

¹⁶ —Said, "Achim b’Moshiach, the Kitvei Hakodesh had to be fulfilled, which the Ruach Hakodesh foretold through the peh of Dovid Hamelech concerning Yehudah, who became a guide to the ones arresting Yehoshua.

¹⁷ "For he had been numbered among us, and he received his ministry in the Messianic avodas kodesh of the Moshiach’s Shlichim.

¹⁸ (Now this man, therefore, acquired a sadeh out of the sachar [reward] of his peysha and, having fallen headlong, he plotst [burst] open in the middle and all the inward parts of him were poured out.

¹⁹ And this became known to all the ones inhabiting Yerushalayim, so that the sadeh [field] became known in their language as 'Akeldama’‖that is 'Sadeh of Dahm.')

²⁰ "For it has been written in the Sefer Tehillim, "TEHI the place of him NESHAMMAH (one being deserted)... V’AL YEHI YOSHEV" ("May his place be deserted and let him not be the one dwelling in it": TEHILLIM 69:26) and "PEKUDATO YIKACH ACHER" ("his place of leadership may another take". TEHILLIM 109:8)

²¹ "It is necessary, therefore, that one of the anashim who accompanied us during all the time in which Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu Yehoshua went in and went out among us,

²² "Beginning from the tevilah of teshuva of Yochanan until the day when Moshiach was taken up from us—one of these should become Eidus (Witness) with us to the Techiyas HaMoshiach."

²³ And they put forward two anashim, Yosef Bar-Sabba, also called Justus, and Mattityahu.

²⁴ And having davened, they said, "Adonoi, you have da’as of the levavot of Kol B’nei Adam. Therefore, show which of these two is your bechirah [1Sm 14:41]

²⁵ "To take the place of this avodas kodesh ministry and Shlichus from which Yehudah turned aside to go to his own place."

²⁶ And they drew lots, and the lot fell to Mattityahu, and he was numbered with the Achad Asar of Moshiach’s Shlichim. [T.N. Lukas wrote this work around 63 C.E., near the time of his awaiting the first hearing of Rav Sha’ul before Nero in Rome.]