Nehemiah 13:23-27

Bible Text

[23] In those days also saw I the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, [and] of Moab: [24] and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. [25] I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying], You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves. [26] Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did foreign women cause to sin. [27] Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women?

Ashdod was a Philistine city west of Jerusalem, while Ammon and Moab lay east of the Jordan; Tyre was the Phoenician port city to the north, and Babylon the eastern imperial center from which many Judeans returned. These foreign connections matter because Nehemiah viewed intermarriage and its linguistic effects as threatening Judah’s covenant faithfulness.

Places in this passage

Nehemiah 13:23-27 mentions Ammon, Ashdod, Babylon, Jerusalem, Moab and Tyre.

Place data & photos: OpenBible.info (CC BY). Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.