²³Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married^u women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.^v ²⁴Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language^w of Judah. ²⁵I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath^x in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.^y ²⁶Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him.^z He was loved by his God,^a and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.^b ²⁷Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying^c foreign women?”

²⁸One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib^d the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat^e the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.

²⁹Remember^f them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.^g

³⁰So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign,^h and assigned them duties, each to his own task.

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Cross references

u Ezr 9:1–2; Mal 2:11
vver 1; See ver 1, See 3; Ex 34:16; See Ru 1:4; See Ne 10:30
w Est 1:22; 3:12; 8:9
xSee Ezr 10:5
ySee Ex 34:16
zSee 1 Ki 3:13; See 2 Ch 1:12
a 2 Sa 12:25
bSee Ex 34:16; See 1 Ki 11:3
c Ezr 9:14
dSee Ezr 10:24
eSee Ne 2:10
fSee Ne 1:8
gSee Nu 3:12
hSee Ne 9:2