Ezra 9:2
For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.
Very soon after Ezra's return to Jerusalem with his company, at a time when his brethren greatly needed the influence of his presence, a few of the chief men of Israel brought him a serious complaint. Some of the people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, had disregarded Jehovah's holy commands by taking daughters from the surrounding heathen peoples for themselves and for their sons in marriage. So the holy seed had mingled and become mixed with the peoples of those heathen lands. The princes and rulers had been chief in this trespass and had led in it.
Those involved had acted thus because they had lost sight of the holy character of Jehovah's commands given through Moses.