We will not give our daughters in marriage to the people of the land, and we will not take their daughters for our sons.
Parallel translations
- WEB and that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons;
- KJV And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor 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 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 7:3Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
- Exod 34:16And 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.
- Ezra 9:1–3After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
- Ezra 10:10–12Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women, adding to the guilt of Israel.
- Ezra 9:12–14Now, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, leaving it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.