And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor 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;
- 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.
- 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 7:3Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
- Exod 34:16And 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.
- Ezra 9:1–3Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
- Ezra 10:10–12And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
- Ezra 9:12–14Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
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.