Nehemiah 13:23-29
The Voice
23 During that same time, I witnessed men from Judah marrying women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah or understand our laws but only the languages of their peoples. 25 I rebuked and cursed them. Some of them I beat, and I tore out their hair. I made them take an oath in the name of God.
Nehemiah: You will not let your daughters marry their sons, nor will you accept their daughters as wives for yourselves or your sons! 26 This is the very thing that caused King Solomon’s downfall. In all the world, there was no king like him. God loved him dearly and made him king over all Israel. Yet these foreign wives led Solomon into sin. 27 Now we discover that you have embraced the same wicked ways, betraying our God by marrying these foreign women.
28 Even the family of High Priest Eliashib was guilty. One of his grandsons, a son of Joiada, married one of the daughters of Sanballat the Horonite. I drove him away from me.
Nehemiah: 29 O God—my God—remember how these men polluted the priesthood and the sacred vows of the priests and Levites.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
