World English Bible · The Persian return
Ezra 10
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Now while and made , weeping and casting himself down before house, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great of men and women and children; for the people wept very bitterly. the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of , answered , "We have trespassed against our , and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is for Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let's make a with our to all the wives and those who are born of them, according to the of my and of those who tremble at the of our . Let it be done according to . Arise, for the matter belongs to you and we are with you. Be courageous, and do it." Then arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the , and all Israel to that they would do according to this word. So they . Then rose up from before house, and went into the room of the son of . When he came there, he didn't eat bread or drink water, for he mourned because of the trespass of the exiles. They made a proclamation throughout Judah and to all the children of , that they should gather themselves together to ; and that whoever didn't come within three days, according to the of the princes and the , all his possessions should be forfeited, and he himself separated from of . Then all the men of Judah and gathered themselves together to within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the wide place in front of house, trembling because of this matter, and because of the great . the priest stood up and said to them, "You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, increasing the of Israel. Now therefore make to , the of your fathers and do his pleasure. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women." Then all answered with a loud voice, "We must do as you have said concerning us. But the people are many, and it is a time of much , and we are not able to stand outside. This is not a work of one day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. Now let our princes be appointed for all , and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at , and with them the of every city and its judges, until the fierce of our is turned from us, until this matter is resolved." Only Jonathan the son of and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and and the helped them. The children of did so. the priest, with certain heads of fathers' households, after their fathers' houses, and all of them by their names, were ; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. 17They finished with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month. Among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women: of the sons of , the son of , and his brothers: , , , and . They gave their hand that they would their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their . Of the sons of : and . Of the sons of : , , , Jehiel, and . Of the sons of : , , , Nethanel, , and Elasah. Of the : , , Kelaiah (also called ), , Judah, and . 24Of the singers: . Of the gatekeepers: , Telem, and . Of Israel: Of the sons of : Ramiah, Izziah, , , , , and . Of the sons of : , , Jehiel, , , and . Of the sons of : , , , , Zabad, and Aziza. Of the sons of : , Hananiah, , and Athlai. Of the sons of : , , , , Sheal, and . Of the sons of : Adna, Chelal, , , , , , and Manasseh. Of the sons of : , Isshijah, , , Shimeon, 32, , and . Of the sons of : , Mattattah, Zabad, , Jeremai, Manasseh, and . 34Of the sons of : Maadai, , Uel, 35, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, 36Vaniah, , , 37, , Jaasu, 38, , , 39, , , 40Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, 41Azarel, , , 42, , and Joseph. Of the sons of : Jeiel, , Zabad, Zebina, , Joel, and . All these had taken foreign wives. Some of them had wives by whom they had children.
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The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.