Has it not then been reported about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God, by marrying foreign women?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women?”
- KJV Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?
- BSB Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”
- NKJV Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?”
- NLT How could you even think of committing this sinful deed and acting unfaithfully toward God by marrying foreign women?”
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
Nehemiah asked whether they should be allowed to commit this great evil by marrying foreign women and trespassing against God. It matters because he framed compromise as unfaithfulness to God Himself.
Overview
Nehemiah's pointed question presses the people to see intermarriage as treachery against the Lord, not a private matter. He calls it a great evil that breaks faith with God. His appeal locates the heart of the issue in covenant loyalty, the same loyalty God's people owe Him through their union with Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Ezra 10:2Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing.
- 1 Sam 30:24Who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays with the baggage. They shall share alike.”
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 13:27 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.