Deuteronomy 7:3

3 Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons.

Deuteronomy 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 7:3

Neither shalt thou make marriages with them
Unless they became proselytes, as Rahab, who was married by Salmon, and so those of other nations, as Ruth the Moabitess, and so any captive taken in war; otherwise it was not lawful, bad consequences have followed upon it, which it is the design of this law to prevent; that is, being snared and drawn aside into idolatry, which was the case of Solomon:

thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt
thou take unto thy son;
for, according to the Targum of Jonathan, whosoever marries with them, it is as if he married with their idols: and this law, according to the Jewish writers ^F3, is binding with respect to other nations besides the seven; and whosoever marries any Heathen, of whatsoever nation, is to be beaten.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Maimon. Hilchot lssure Biah, c. 12. sect. 1.

Deuteronomy 7:3 In-Context

1 When the Lord your God takes you into the land where you are going, which is to be your heritage, and has sent out the nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you;

2 And when the Lord has given them up into your hands and you have overcome them, give them up to complete destruction: make no agreement with them, and have no mercy on them:

3 Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons.

4 For through them your sons will be turned from me to the worship of other gods: and the Lord will be moved to wrath against you and send destruction on you quickly.

5 But this is what you are to do to them: their altars are to be pulled down and their pillars broken, and their holy trees cut down and their images burned with fire.