Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the clan of Elam, said to Ezra, "We have broken faith with God by marrying foreign women, but even so there is still hope for Israel.

I have sinned against you---only against you--- and done what you consider evil. So you are right in judging me; you are justified in condemning me.

I ask you, is it right for a person to cheat God? Of course not, yet you are cheating me. 'How?' you ask. In the matter of tithes and offerings.

Our message is that God was making all human beings his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends.

Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.