Genesis 34:1-14; Deuteronomy 7:1-6; Joshua 23:1-13; Deuteronomy 17:14-20; Ezra 9; Psalms 106

Genesis 34:1-14

1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.

2 When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

3 He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.

4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young girl for a wife."

5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in.

6 Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.

7 Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage.

9 "Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves.

10 "Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it."

11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, "If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me.

12 "Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage."

13 But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.

14 They said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.

Deuteronomy 7:1-6

1 "When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many 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 your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.

3 "Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.

4 "For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.

5 "But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

6 "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Joshua 23:1-13

1 Now it came about after many days, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies on every side, and Joshua was old, advanced in years,

2 that Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and their heads and their judges and their officers, and said to them, "I am old, advanced in years.

3 "And you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is He who has been fighting for you.

4 "See, I have apportioned to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations which I have cut off, from the Jordan even to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun

5 "The LORD your God, He will thrust them out from before you and drive them from before you; and you will possess their land, just as the LORD your God promised you.

6 "Be very firm, then, to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left,

7 so that you will not associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or make anyone swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them.

8 "But you are to cling to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.

9 "For the LORD has driven out great and strong nations from before you; and as for you, no man has stood before you to this day.

10 "One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you.

11 "So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the LORD your God.

12 "For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,

13 know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

14 "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,'

15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.

16 "Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.'

17 "He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

18 "Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

19 "It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes,

20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

Ezra 9

1 Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, "The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites.

2 "For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness."

3 When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled.

4 Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.

5 But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God;

6 and I said, "O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.

7 "Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day.

8 "But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.

9 "For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

10 "Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments,

11 which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity.

12 'So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever .'

13 "After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this,

14 shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape?

15 "O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this."

Psalms 106

1 Praise the LORD ! Oh give thanks to the LORD , for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

2 Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the LORD , Or can show forth all His praise?

3 How blessed are those who keep justice, Who practice righteousness at all times!

4 Remember me, O LORD , in Your favor toward Your people; Visit me with Your salvation,

5 That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, That I may glory with Your inheritance.

6 We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.

7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses, But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His power known.

9 Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.

10 So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11 The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left.

12 Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.

13 They quickly forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel,

14 But craved intensely in the wilderness, And tempted God in the desert.

15 So He gave them their request, But sent a wasting disease among them.

16 When they became envious of Moses in the camp, And of Aaron, the holy one of the LORD ,

17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, And engulfed the company of Abiram.

18 And a fire blazed up in their company; The flame consumed the wicked.

19 They made a calf in Horeb And worshiped a molten image.

20 Thus they exchanged their glory For the image of an ox that eats grass.

21 They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt,

22 Wonders in the land of Ham And awesome things by the Red Sea.

23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him, To turn away His wrath from destroying them.

24 Then they despised the pleasant land; They did not believe in His word,

25 But grumbled in their tents; They did not listen to the voice of the LORD .

26 Therefore He swore to them That He would cast them down in the wilderness,

27 And that He would cast their seed among the nations And scatter them in the lands.

28 They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, And ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, And the plague broke out among them.

30 Then Phinehas stood up and interposed, And so the plague was stayed.

31 And it was reckoned to him for righteousness, To all generations forever .

32 They also provoked Him to wrath at the waters of Meribah, So that it went hard with Moses on their account;

33 Because they were rebellious against His Spirit, He spoke rashly with his lips.

34 They did not destroy the peoples, As the LORD commanded them,

35 But they mingled with the nations And learned their practices,

36 And served their idols, Which became a snare to them.

37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons,

38 And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood.

39 Thus they became unclean in their practices, And played the harlot in their deeds.

40 Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against His people And He abhorred His inheritance.

41 Then He gave them into the hand of the nations, And those who hated them ruled over them.

42 Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were subdued under their power.

43 Many times He would deliver them; They, however, were rebellious in their counsel, And so sank down in their iniquity.

44 Nevertheless He looked upon their distress When He heard their cry;

45 And He remembered His covenant for their sake, And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness.

46 He also made them objects of compassion In the presence of all their captors.

47 Save us, O LORD our God, And gather us from among the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name And glory in Your praise.

48 Blessed be the LORD , the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, "Amen." Praise the LORD !