In postexilic times Ezra and Nehemiah condemned the wrong practice of the returned exiles in mingling with “the peoples of the land(s),” marrying their women, allowing them to carry on commerce within the city on the Sabbath, and learning their detestable practices. (Ezr 9:11; 10:2, 11; Ne 10:28, 31) The expression here referred to the surrounding non-Israelite peoples specified at Ezra 9:1, 2, and the reas