²³In those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴Half their children were speaking the language of Ashdod or some other place, and they couldn’t speak the language of Judah. ²⁵I argued with those people, put curses on them, hit some of them, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to make a promise to God, saying, “Do not let your daughters marry the sons of foreigners, and do not take the daughters of foreigners as wives for your sons or yourselves. ²⁶Foreign women made King Solomon of Israel sin. There was never a king like him in any of the nations. God loved Solomon and made him king over all Israel, but foreign women made him sin. ²⁷And now you are not obedient when you do this evil thing. You are unfaithful to our God when you marry foreign wives.”

²⁸Joiada was the son of Eliashib the high priest. One of Joiada’s sons married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, so I sent him away from me.

²⁹Remember them, my God, because they made the priesthood unclean and the agreement of the priests and Levites unclean.

³⁰So I purified them of everything that was foreign. I appointed duties for the priests and Levites, giving each man his own job.

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