Ezra 9 עזרא ט׳

And when these [words (i.e., their relating of the king's edicts)] were concluded, the chiefs [of Israel] drew near to me and said: The people have not separated — Israel, and the priests, and the Levites — from the people of the lands, in their abominations — (those of) the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizites, the Yevusites, the Ammonites, the Moavites, the Egyptians, and the Emorites.

For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed [i.e., Israel] have intermingled with the people of the lands, and the hand of the chiefs and their deputies has been in this faithlessness first.

And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my cloak, and I tore out the hair of my head and my beard, and I sat desolate.

And there gathered unto me all who were zealous for the words of the G-d of Israel, over the faithlessness of the exile, and I sat desolate until the [(daily)] evening offering.

And at the evening offering I rose from my fast [(not having eaten that day)], my garment and my cloak rent, and I bowed down on my knees, and spread out my hands to the L-rd my G-d.

And I said: My G-d, I am ashamed and abashed to lift, my G-d, my face to You, for our transgressions have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown until the heavens.

From the days of our fathers we are in [(a state of)] great guilt, until this [very] day. And because of our transgressions, we have been delivered — our kings and our priests — into the hand of the kings of the land, to the sword, to captivity, to spoil, and to shamefacedness as [(we see)] of this day, [(the ten tribes having been exiled, and many of the exiles remaining yet in Bavel.)]

And, for the moment, we have been granted favor by the L-rd our G-d, to leave us a remnant and to give us a hold in His holy place, that our G-d enlighten our eyes and give us a little life in our servitude.

For we are servants [(to Darius, king of Paras)], and in our servitude, our G-d has not forsaken us. For He has bestowed favor upon us before the kings of Paras, to give us the wherewithal to exalt the house of our G-d and to restore its ruins, and to give us a "fence" [(for the observance of His mitzvoth)] in Judah and Jerusalem.

And now, what can we say, our G-d, after this, that we have forsaken Your mitzvoth

that You commanded through Your servants the prophets, saying: "The land that you are coming to inherit is a defiled land, in the defilement of the people of the lands, in their abominations, with which they have filled it from mouth to mouth in their defilement.

And now, Your daughters do not give to their sons, and their daughters do not take for your sons, and do not seek their peace and their good forever. So that you take hold [(in the land)] and eat of the good of the land and bequeath it to your sons forever."

And after all [these evils] that have come upon us because of our evil acts and our great guilt, [now] that You, our G-d, have kept [Yourself from exacting punishment], beneath the deserts of our transgressions, and You have left us such a remnant,

shall we revert to the violation of Your mitzvoth, to intermarry with the peoples of these abominations! Will You not rage at us until [(the point of)] destruction, until [there is left of us] no trace or remnant?

O L-rd, G-d of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left as a remnant as of this day. Behold, we are before You in our guilt, for we [have] no merits [with which] to stand before You against [i.e., to counter] this transgression.