weeping Heb. בּכֶה, like בֶּכִי.

and we have taken And we took them in.

there is hope There is hope for Israel concerning this, for they can cast out their foreign wives and their offspring and cast out all the children born from these foreign wives.

by the counsel of the Lord by the counsel and the will of the Holy One, blessed be He.

and those who hasten to [perform] the commandment of our God and the God-fearers, they shall cast them out.

and according to the Law it shall be done he who performs this act, who will cast out his gentile wife and children.

and we are with you to agree with you.

a proclamation Heb. קוֹל, lit. a voice, an announcement.

by three days at the end of three days.

the ninth month That is the month of Kislev.

quaking over the matter They were afraid over the matter. They were afraid of the stumbling block of this transgression.

and because of the rains And because of the rains that were falling upon them there, they were shivering and miserable.

confess Heb. תּוֹדָה, [which, in this case, means] וִדּוּי, confession.

and it is the rainy season for the rains are falling upon us.

and the work And this separation from sin cannot be executed so quickly.

with the entire congregation Heb. לְכָל הַקָהָל

who took in Heb. הַהשִּׁיב equivalent to אֲשֶּׁר הוֹשִּׁיב.

until we avert until the burning anger of the Holy One, blessed be He, returns from upon us.

stood up against this to argue concerning this matter.

supported them strengthened their hands.

to investigate Heb. לְדַרְיוֹשּׁ, like לִדְרוֹשּׁ.

And they completed everything And they completed the rectification of the matter of the men who had brought in heathen wives, for they cast them out.

of the first month until the first day of Nissan.

And they advised them Heb. וַיִתְּנוּ יָדָם, lit. and they gave their hand, their advice, like (II Sam. 14:19): “Behold Joab’s advice (יַד יוֹאָב) is with you in all this (sic).”

for their guilt This was a temporary ruling.

And of the sons of Immer All these are priests until (verse 23): “And of the Levites, etc.”

and some of them had wives by whom they had children And some of them had heathen wives by whom they had children. They cast out all of them, both the wives and the children.