Ezra 9:6

⁶וָאֹמְרָה, אֱלֹהַי בֹּשְׁתִּי וְנִכְלַמְתִּי, לְהָרִים אֱלֹהַי פָּנַי אֵלֶיךָ; כִּי עֲוֹנֹתֵינוּ רָבוּ לְמַעְלָה רֹּאשׁ, וְאַשְׁמָתֵנוּ גָדְלָה עַד לַשָּׁמָיִם׃

Ezra 9 records a crisis of covenant faithfulness. Ezra learns that the returned exiles, including priests and Levites, have intermarried with the surrounding peoples who practice idolatry. This is not a matter of ethnic purity but of spiritual fidelity: such marriages had led Isr