And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.
Parallel translations
- WEB and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.
- KJV And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
- NKJV and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.
- NASB and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons also to prostitute themselves with their gods.
- NLT Then you will accept their daughters, who sacrifice to other gods, as wives for your sons. And they will seduce your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Intermarriage with idolaters would lead Israel's sons into the same spiritual prostitution. The concern is protecting covenant faithfulness, not ethnicity.
Overview
God forbids these marriages because they would draw Israel into idol worship, as the daughters and then the sons turn to false gods. The prohibition is fundamentally religious, guarding wholehearted devotion to the Lord. The New Testament applies the same principle, urging believers not to be unequally yoked with unbelief (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ezra 9:2Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!”
- Deut 7:3–4Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
- 1 Kgs 11:2–4These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.
- Num 25:1–2While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
- Neh 13:25I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!
- Neh 13:23In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
- 2 Cor 6:14–17Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 34:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.