Nehemiah 13:23–30

²³In those days I also saw Jews who ^ahad married women of ^bAshdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.

²⁵So I ^ccontended with them and ⁵cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them ^dswear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. ^26eDid not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, ^fwho was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. ^gNevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. ²⁷Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, ^htransgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?”

²⁸And one of the sons ⁱof Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of ^jSanballat the Horonite; therefore I drove him from me.

^29kRemember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and ^lthe covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

^30mThus I cleansed them of everything pagan. I also ⁿassigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each to his service,