”And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is HOPE in Israel concerning this thing.” Ezra 10:2 Did you catch that? “We have trespassed against our God… yet now there is HOPE…”  Israel had directly disobeyed God. They had married foreign wives and sinned against the Lord.