8 So confess and give glory to the Lord God of our ancestors.
9 Do God’s will and separate yourselves from the neighboring peoples and from the foreign women."
10 The whole crowd cried out, "We will do what you have said.
11 But it’s a big crowd, and it’s winter, and we aren’t strong enough to keep standing outside. This isn’t something we can do in one or two days, because we have sinned too greatly in these matters.
12 So let the leaders of the crowd remain, and let all those in our settlements who have foreign wives come at a specific time,
13 with the local elders and judges, until we are free from the Lord’s wrath that is against us in this affair."
14 Jonathan, Asahel’s son, and Jahzeiah, Tikvah’s son, accepted these terms, and Meshullam and Levi and Shabbethai supported them as moderators.