1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, 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.
2 For they have taken some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has mingled with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.
3 And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my mantle, and pulled out the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished.