23 In those days I also saw Jews who (A)had married women of (B)Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.

25 So I (C)contended with them and [a]cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them (D)swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. 26 (E)Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, (F)who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. (G)Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. 27 Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, (H)transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?”

28 And one of the sons (I)of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of (J)Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I drove him from me.

29 (K)Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and (L)the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

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Footnotes

  1. Nehemiah 13:25 pronounced them cursed

23 In those days also I saw Jews who had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab;

24 and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people.

25 And I contended with them and cursed them, and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons or for yourselves.

26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did women from other lands cause to sin.

27 Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying foreign wives?”

28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me.

29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.

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