Officials reported that the people, including priests and Levites, had not separated from the peoples of the lands and had taken foreign wives. The report says the hand of the princes and rulers had been foremost in this trespass. See Ezra 9:1 and Ezra 9:2.
After Ezra has finished earlier tasks, local leaders approach him with a disturbing report: Israel’s community, including priests and Levites, has not kept social distance from surrounding peoples. Ezra 9 opens a new problem episode in the book’s story. Up to this point Ezra has arrived in Jerusalem with authorization, resources, and a mandate to help order community life. “Now when these things were done” signals a transition from travel and administrative actions to a crisis report that demands a response.
Ezra 9:1–2 presents an internal crisis report brought by community leaders to Ezra after earlier business is finished.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Ezra 9:1, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
1Now when these things were done, the princes drew near to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, [doing] according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.