But when her masters saw that their hope of profit had gone out, they laid hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

And when they had brought them to the  ¹magistrates, they said, These men, being Jews, are throwing our city into confusion,

And they are announcing customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to accept or do.

And the crowd rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their garments and ordered some to beat them with rods.

And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them securely,

Who, having received such a charge, threw them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the  ¹stocks.

And about midnight Paul and Silas, while praying, sang hymns of praise to God; and the prisoners were listening to them.

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken. And instantly all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened.

And the jailer, waking up out of his sleep and seeing the doors of the prison opened, drew his sword and was about to do away with himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, Do no harm to yourself, for we are all here.

And the jailer asked for lights and rushed in; and trembling, he fell down before Paul and Silas.

And leading them outside, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your  ¹household.

And they spoke the word of God to him together with all those in his house.

And he took them with him in that very hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was  ¹baptized immediately, he and all his household.

And he brought them  ¹up  ²into his house and set a table before them; and he exulted because he had believed in God with all his household.

Now when day came, the magistrates sent the  ¹lictors, saying, Release those men.

And the jailer reported these words to Paul: The magistrates have sent that you may be released. Now therefore come out and go in peace.

But Paul said to them, They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now secretly they are thrusting us out? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.

And the lictors reported these words to the magistrates. And they became frightened when they heard that they were Romans.

And they came and entreated them. And when they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.

And they went out from the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they saw the brothers, they exhorted them and went forth.

Now when these things had been completed, the officials approached me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

For they have taken some of their  ¹daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this unfaithfulness.

And when I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled out hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled.

Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of those of the captivity was gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening meal offering.

And at the time of the evening meal offering I rose up from my affliction, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to Jehovah my God.

And I said, O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have multiplied over our head, and our guilt has increased up to the heavens.

Since the days of our fathers up to this day we have been exceedingly guilty; and because of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests, have been delivered up into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder, and to shamefacedness, as it is this day.

And now for a brief moment favor has been shown by Jehovah our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

For we are slaves, yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to raise up the house of our God and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

Which You commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, The land which you are entering to possess is a land unclean with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations, with which they have filled it from one end to another, and with their defilement.

Now therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.

And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us those who have escaped as this,

Shall we again break your commandments and intermarry with the peoples that do these abominations? Will You not be angry with us until You have consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor any who escape?

O Jehovah the God of Israel, You are righteous; for we have been left a remnant of those who have escaped, as it is this day. Here we are before You in our guilt, although none can stand before You because of this.

Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a very large gathering of men and women and children was gathered together to him out of Israel; for the people wept very bitterly.

And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have acted unfaithfully against our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this.

Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and those born of them according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the law.

Arise, for the matter is your responsibility, but we are with you; be strong, and do it.

Then Ezra arose and made the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear that they would do according to this word; so they swore.

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he was mourning because of the unfaithfulness of those of the captivity.

And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem;

And that whoever did not come within three days, according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited, and he himself should be separated from the congregation of the captivity.

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month, and all the people sat in the open square in front of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.

And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have acted unfaithfully and have married foreign women to increase the guilt of Israel.

Now therefore make confession to Jehovah the God of your fathers, and do His will, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.

Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, It is so; we must do as you have said.

But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside; neither is this a task for one day or two, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.

Let our leaders represent the whole congregation, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times and with them the elders of every city and their judges, until the fierce anger of our God is turned away from us on account of this matter.

Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.

And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest and certain heads of fathers' houses were set apart according to their fathers' houses, all of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

And they finished with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month.

And among the sons of the priests who had married foreign women there were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedaliah.

And they pledged that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.

And of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

And of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.

And of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

And of the singers: Eliashib. And of the gatekeepers: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.

And of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.

And of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah.

And of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.

And of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai.

And of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth.

And of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.

And of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah.

Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei.

Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,

Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu,

And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,

And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,

Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,

Shallum, Amariah, Joseph.

Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, and Joel, Benaiah.

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