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.