and that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons;
Parallel translations
- KJV And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons:
- BSB We will not give our daughters in marriage to the people of the land, and we will not take their daughters for our sons.
- ESV We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
- NKJV We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons;
- NASB and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
- NLT “We promise not to let our daughters marry the pagan people of the land, and not to let our sons marry their daughters.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
They pledged not to intermarry with the surrounding pagan peoples. This guarded Israel's faith from being drawn away into idolatry.
Overview
The first specific commitment addresses intermarriage, a recurring threat to covenant faithfulness (Ezra 9-10; Nehemiah 13). The concern is not ethnic but spiritual: marriage to idolaters had repeatedly led Israel astray. The principle endures in the New Testament call for believers not to be 'unequally yoked' with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14), so that God's people remain set apart for him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Deut 7:3neither shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
- Exod 34:16and 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.
- Ezra 9:1–3Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
- Ezra 10:10–12Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel.
- Ezra 9:12–14Now therefore don’t give your daughters to their sons. Don’t take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 10:30 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.