³ Do not intermarry with them.^(A) Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

² They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry^(A) with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.

¹⁵ “Be careful not to make a treaty^(A) with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute^(B) themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.^{(C) 16} And when you choose some of their daughters as wives^(D) for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods,^(E) they will lead your sons to do the same.

¹² “But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them^(A) and associate with them,^{(B) 13} then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out^(C) these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares^(D) and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes,^(E) until you perish from this good land,^(F) which the Lord your God has given you.

²³ Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married^(A) women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.^{(B) 24} Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language^(C) of Judah. ²⁵ I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath^(D) in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.^{(E) 26} Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him.^(F) He was loved by his God,^(G) and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.^{(H) 27} Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying^(I) foreign women?”

Warning Against Idolatry

¹⁴ Do not be yoked together^(A) with unbelievers.^(B) For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?^{(C) 15} What harmony is there between Christ and Belial^[a]?^(D) Or what does a believer^(E) have in common with an unbeliever?^{(F) 16} What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?^(G) For we are the temple^(H) of the living God.^(I) As God has said:

¹⁷ Therefore,

Ezra’s Prayer About Intermarriage

9 After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate^(A) from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites,^(B) Ammonites,^(C) Moabites,^(D) Egyptians and Amorites.^{(E) 2} They have taken some of their daughters^(F) as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled^(G) the holy race^(H) with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.”^(I)

⁶ They took their daughters^(A) in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.^(B)

Othniel

⁷ The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord^(C) their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.^(D)

² the sons of God^(A) saw that the daughters^(B) of humans were beautiful,^(C) and they married^(D) any of them they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit^(E) will not contend with^[a] humans forever,^(F) for they are mortal^[b];^(G) their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”