Now when these things were done, the princes drew near unto 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 of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands: yea, the hand of the princes and {Or, deputies}rulers hath been {Or, first}chief in this trespass.
And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded.
Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the trespass of them of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening oblation.
And at the evening oblation I arose up from my {Or, fasting}humiliation, even with my garment and my robe rent; and I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto Jehovah my God;
and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness is grown up unto the heavens.
Since the days of our fathers we have been {Hebrew: in great guiltiness.}exceeding guilty unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
And now for a little moment grace hath been showed from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
For we are bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended lovingkindness unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the {Or, waste places}ruins thereof, and to give us a {Or, fence}wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness:
now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever; that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such a remnant,
shall we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?
O Jehovah, the God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our guiltiness; for none can stand before thee because of this.
Querverweise zu Esra 9,3 Esra 9,3
And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust upon their heads.
They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,
Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
And I contended with them, and {Or, reviled}cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.
And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah.
{Or, Bayith and Dibon are gone up to the high places}They are gone up to {Or, the temple}Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep: Moab waileth {Or, upon}over Nebo, and {Or, upon}over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, every beard is cut off.
So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his {Or, pain}grief was very great.
Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped;
Cut off {Hebrew: thy crown.}thy hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Jehovah hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
Say unto God, How terrible are thy works!Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies {Or, yield feigned obedience Hebrew: lie.}submit themselves unto thee.
And they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
Therefore {Or, my spirit fainteth}is my spirit overwhelmed within me;My heart within me is desolate.
On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein none delighteth, saith Jehovah.
Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that {Or, sat}dwelt by the river Chebar, {Another reading is, and I sat where they sat.}and to where they {Or, sat}dwelt; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken dumb for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine adversaries.
Make thee bald, and cut off thy hair for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the {Or, vulture}eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.
And I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king's business: and I wondered at the vision, {Or, but there was none to make it understood}but none understood it.