Nehemiah 13:23-29
New English Translation
23 Also in those days I saw the men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 Half their children spoke the language of Ashdod (or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned[a]) and were unable to speak the language of Judah. 25 So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying, “You will not marry off[b] your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Was it not because of things like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made[c] him king over all Israel. But the foreign wives made even him sin! 27 Should we then in your case hear that you do all this great evil, thereby being unfaithful to our God by marrying[d] foreign wives?”
28 Now one of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. So I banished him from my sight.
29 Please remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priesthood,[e] and the Levites.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Nehemiah 13:24 tn Heb “people and people.”
- Nehemiah 13:25 tn Heb “give.”
- Nehemiah 13:26 tn Heb “gave.”
- Nehemiah 13:27 tn Heb “give a dwelling to.”
- Nehemiah 13:29 tc One medieval Hebrew ms, the Lucianic Greek recension, and the Syriac Peshitta read the plural הַכֹּהֲנִים (hakkohanim, “the priests”) rather than the singular reading of the MT, הַכְּהֻנָּה (hakkehunnah, “the priesthood”).
Nehemiah 13:23-29
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Mixed Marriages Condemned
23 In those days also I saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab,(A) 24 and half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah but spoke the language of various peoples. 25 And I contended with them and cursed them and beat some of the men and pulled out their hair, and I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.(B) 26 Did not King Solomon of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin.(C) 27 Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”(D)
28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; I chased him away from me.(E) 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priests and the Levites.(F)
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