#Ezra 9

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Ezra's Reaction to Marriages to Pagans

1 After these things occurred, certain officials approached me and said “The people of Israel, the priests, and the descendants of Levi have not separated themselves from the people of the lands or from the detestable behavior of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, 2 because they and their sons have married foreign women. As a result, the holy people have mingled themselves among the people who live in these lands. As a matter of fact, the senior officials and the rulers have been foremost in this sin.”

3 When I heard this, I tore both my garment and robe, plucked hair from both my head and my beard, and collapsed in shock! 4 Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered together as a group because of the sin committed by those who had been led astray. As for me, I remained seated, in shock, until the evening sacrifice.

Ezra’s Prayer of Repentance

5 At the time of the evening sacrifice, I arose from my discouragement. Still in my torn garment and robe, I fell to my knees with my hands outstretched to the Lord my God, 6 and said,

“My God, I am too ashamed and hurt to turn to you, because we’re in our iniquities over our heads. Furthermore, my God, our sins have grown as high as the heavens. 7 We have lived in great sin from the days of our ancestors even until today, and because of those iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered over to foreign kings, for execution, for captivity, for plunder, and for humiliation, as is the case today. 8 Though now, for a moment, grace has been shown from the Lord our God, leaving a few survivors to escape, and providing us a secure hold in his Holy Place, so that our God might enlighten us and give us relief from our servitude. 9 Even though we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our slavery. Instead, he has extended gracious love to us in the presence of the kings of Persia, to grant us revival, to set up the Temple of our God, to repair its damage, and to give us a protective wall for Judah and Jerusalem.

10 Now, our God, what can we say besides this? Because we have abandoned your commandments 11 that you gave in the writings of your servants, the prophets:

‘The land you are entering to possess is a morally unclean land due to the moral uncleanness of the people who live in there—along with their abominations—that has filled it from one end to the other with their impurities. 12 So, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor marry their daughters to your sons, and under no circumstances are you to seek their well-being or their wealth, so that you may remain strong, enjoying the best things the land has to give, and so that you may establish an inheritance for your children forever.’

13 “After all that has happened to us because of our evil behavior, and because of our great sin—considering that you our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us this deliverance— 14 should we violate your commandments by intermarrying with the nations who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you had consumed us, with not even a remnant surviving to escape?

15 Lord God of Israel, you are just: As a result, we remain here today delivered. Look at us! Because of our sin, we cannot stand in your presence as a result of everything that has happened.” — Ezra 9 | International Standard Version (ISV) The International Standard Version of the Holy Bible Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. All Rights Reserved internationally. Cross References: Exodus 9:29; Exodus 29:39; Exodus 34:15-16; Deuteronomy 7:3; Deuteronomy 9:8; Leviticus 18:24; 2 Samuel 1:11; 1 Kings 8:47; 2 Kings 18:37; 2 Chronicles 29:6; Ezra 6:1; Ezra 6:21; Ezra 7:28; Ezra 10:3; Nehemiah 9:33; Nehemiah 9:36; Nehemiah 13:18; Job 9:2; Psalm 13:3; Psalm 103:10; Psalm 138:7; Jeremiah 26:5; Daniel 10:2; Luke 18:13; John 5:14; 1 Corinthians 7:14; 2 Corinthians 6:14; Revelation 18:5

[biblebloodhound]

A Prayer of Confession (Ezra 9:5-15)

Whenever things are awry, circumstances are less than desirable, and situations seem overwhelming, the place to begin is to pray.

Ezra In Prayer, by Gustave Doré, 1866 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my Godand prayed: “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors until…

[re4med]

The Morning Devotional: WCF 19.6 (Part Two)

The Morning Devotional for June 29, 2023 The Westminster Confession of Faith 19.6 (Part Two) VI. Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned;a yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly;b discovering…

[doverstar]

I want to sit down and talk about how Grant Gustin, on the Flash, in the course of 9 seasons and almost 10 years, displayed the ability to perfectly act out *deep inhale* Barry Allen, an evil version of Barry Allen, a nerdy wimp version of Barry Allen, three of the Big Bads, Harry Wells inside Barry's body, H.R. Wells inside Barry's body, Sherloque Wells inside Barry's body, basically every Wells inside Barry's body, Barry Allen as the lead in a spontaneous superpowered musical, Barry pretending to be a hacker, Barry pretending to be a crime lord, Barry being infected/possessed by a Big Bad, and Barry Allen as a really dorky drunk guy (more than once)-

[dailyezrabridger]

Star Wars: Rebels (TV) ★ Season 1: Episode 4

[loth-creatures]

paint fight ❤️

*dragging myself out of the burnout pit of despair with small doodles* take THAT.

[watermel0ns-dumb-cringe]

conversations

[dr-giggle-touche]

I was doom scrolling for like 9 hours n got tired of it in between n am making rtc in GACHA

(Working on Penny rn, gonna do Ezra next then I'll do SABM and Monique)

[thebeautyofspn]

9x21 King Of The Damned

[autism-disco]

even wgen children are like "loud" and "annoying" i can't help but be sympatheticnlike. yeqgh thatsvhow it is man. you get it

[wall-eye]

directly inspired by this tweet, except when i sat down to do it ponies came out instead of people. oops! enjoy!

[hydr0phius]

Ezra checking on the Great Mothers after he knocked something over and it made a loud bang: oh, don't stress, guys, they're still asleep

Thrawn, on a mission for some damn ANSWERS: *raises pots and pans he borrowed from the kitchens* shame. *bangbangbangbang*

[re4med]

The Morning Devotional: WCF 14.2

The Morning Devotional for May 2, 2023 The Westminster Confession of Faith 14.2 II. By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein;a and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands,b trembling at the threatenings,c and embracing the promises…

[flowerakatsuka]

i really should make a post diving into the exact reason why kuroba treats the sextuplets so gently ( for the most part ) bc i was thinking about that today and it's... hmmm.

[wannab-urs]

The Spreadsheet Digest - Fic Recs | Vol. 9

Hi friends!! This week I read several series that had like... a lot of parts... including ones I've previously recced but just now finished (Looking at you Lie To Me by @iamskyereads). I also went to Pride and basically read nothing from Saturday to Monday. That being said, I'm pretty proud of the amount of fics I was able to scrounge up for y'all this week, and I think we have a pretty good selection.

The Spreadsheet can be found here and you're always welcome to tag me in a fic or send it to my askbox if you want me to read it (I'll read any Pedro boy!).

Recs below the Pedro:

Puppet - an Ezra one shot by @jksprincess10

I love these fics that are like "What if we went to extreme lengths to shut Ezra the fuck up," and I especially love how this one ends. Also the side effect bit made me giggle. You're a genius, Nad <3

Hot and Heavy - a Joel series by @tieronecrush

I think I established recently that I'm a sucker for the nanny trope. We also know I love angst. So here we have one of those time bomb relationships where we know it's gonna end, not once, but twice. Excellent angst/tention building. Then we also have super fucking sexy delicious smut, Joel being a fucking adorable father, reader being like actually awesome... and I lowkey think readers mom is on it but that's just me. OH and "Mariposa" are you KIDDING ME?! perfect.

Run to You - a Marcus Pike series by @foli-vora

Talk about angst... and it's fucking PERFECT. The little flashback scenes and then the sharp cut to such a painful present situation UGH. The world building is excellent. The characterization is so fucking good bc of COURSE Marcus would fall in love on an op of fucking course he would. Marcus "Marry Me" Pike over here. Fucking idiot. I love him. I can't wait to see how this story progresses. It is so. fucking. good.

Pretend Alleyways - a Dieter/Marcus Moreno series by @radiowallet

Would I ever have thought about pairing up Marcus Moreno and Dieter Bravo? No. Am I eternally grateful someone put my two softboys together? YES. They are so perfect together. So sweet and precious. They need each other fr. This made me all warm and fuzzy inside and also horny obviously.

Like Water in Your Hands - a Joel one shot by @beskarandblasters (Part of the Punisher anthology)

I. Love. This. So. Fucking. Much. Top tier. The smut? The plot? The characterization? Queen shit.

Don't Be Scared - a Din one shot by @beskarandblasters

Din being scared/nervous omg. So cute and sexy. I love him so much UGH. Looking forward to the Din revival fr

the lakes - a Joel one shot by @tieronecrush (Part of the folklore anthology)

This is literally one of my greatest non-smutty fantasies with Joel. Just telling him how much he means to me and promising to be there for him and convincing him to let himself be happy and comfortable. I wanna hug that man so bad AGH. This was beautiful Sam <3

Summer Lovin' - a Joel one shot by @atinylittlepain

I don't know why I've been reading so much asshole!Joel lately.... but I'm loving it. I love all the little details in this. I was genuinely pissed the fuck off at Joel. I have more sympathy for the ice cream than that fucking idiot. Sarah, his ex, and reader all deserve so much better than that dipshit UGH

Unusual Situation - a Din/Ezra one shot by @absurdthirst

Not only am I back on my Din/Reader/Ezra bullshit AND my M/M/F bullshit in general, but this is the fic that caused it. These two space idiots were meant to be together, I am 100% certain. The way Ezra manages to gently reassure Din that reader wants him while they're both balls deep in various holes....??? How do you do it. How do you make something tender and sweet while also being complete and utter filth. I am fascinated.

Of Gorgons and Gardens - a Din/Ezra series by @concussed-to-pieces

Following the absurdthirst story, I found this one.... and boy howdy. I am a SLUT for sex pollen fics, so obviously that was excellent. I also love how it was like "oh the plant makes men want to fuck women" but hinted that neither of them would be particularly upset about fucking each other either. Mando was like... i don't give a fuck, dude. And then it went from absurdly smutty (but also kinda sweet) in part one, to just like tender and sweet in part two. Like yeah yeah horrible harrowing near death experience yada yada... the STUBBLE SCENE??? The PAIN KINK?? the TOUCHING?? I just about died. And then in part three we get my top all time kink PLUS Din and Ezra and Reader just being so sweet it hurts a little. I am feral for these boys UGH. AND AND the nickname being bird in mando'a was so clever??

Late July - a Jack (Whiskey) series by @concussed-to-pieces

So I read the Din/Ezra thing and obviously had to peruse the masterlist. I love my dear appalachian cowboy. I really really liked the whole premise of this story and the follow ups. The smut is fucking masterful but also like hello, plot??? Truly incredible. I really liked seeing frat-boy Jack and also seeing him work through his trauma and shit. But also Jack tied to a chair need I say more?

Defanged - a Din one shot by @concussed-to-pieces

Alright so this one is the same sex pollen from OGaG but it doesn't hurt which is super dope. Hey Alexa play "In Love with a Stripper" but it's Din in love with a sex worker just bc he put his dick in her. I fuckin love this.

hunt and peck - a Javi P one shot by @toxicanonymity

You really said lets take this slut and make him even hornier and I LOVE IT.

----------oldies but goodies-----------

soft!dom joel - a Joel a series by @joelscruff

Letterman Jacket - a Javi P series by @fuckyeahdindjarin

I want you to stay - a Dieter one shot by @ezrasbirdie

Below the Line - a Dieter series by @prolix-yuy

Midnight Rider a Jack (Whiskey) one shot by jazzelsaur (ao3)

Rare - a Joel a one shot by @swiftispunk

One Hundred and Fifty Seven - a Din one shot by @theidiotwhowritesthings

Heatwaves - a Javi P two shot by @mishasminion360

In the Dark - an Ezra series by @frannyzooey (favorite ez ever maybe)

Lover of mine - a Dieter one shot by @psychedelic-ink

Morning - a Dieter series by @write-and-buried

--------------my recents-------------

In the next one - based on Lucy Dacus' (boygenius) song We're in Love and a standalone addition to my loose fit Dieter series A Ghost of You - focuses on Dieter's belief that he's been with you in every single past life and lost you in each of them + him coming to terms with his belief that he'll lose you in this one too.

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Happy Reading

[cr0wqui11]

I’ve come to the conclusion that the presentation trio are infecting my dreams and it’s only a matter of time before they infect my nightmares. (I have not had a nightmare in years)