Nehemiah 13:25

25 I argued with those people, put curses on them, hit some of them, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to make a promise to God, saying, "Do not let your daughters marry the sons of foreigners, and do not take the daughters of foreigners as wives for your sons or yourselves.

Nehemiah 13:25 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 13:25

And I contended with them
Argued with them, faithfully admonished them, and sharply reproved them:

and cursed them;
assuring them that the curse of God would come upon them, unless they repented. Aben Ezra interprets it of excommunicating them, either with "Cherem" or "Niddui", which were two sorts of excommunication among the Jews; but it is a question whether as yet those were used by them:

and smote certain of them;
ordered them to be beaten with rods or scourges, as transgressors of the law:

and plucked off their hair;
or ordered it to be plucked off by the executioner that smote them; which sort of punishment, as it was painful, it was disgraceful and ignominious, see ( Isaiah 1:6 ) ,

and made them swear by God, saying, ye shall not give your daughters
unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for
yourselves;
not intermarry with them; this they had sworn to before, ( Nehemiah 10:29 Nehemiah 10:30 ) .

Nehemiah 13:25 In-Context

23 In those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

24 Half their children were speaking the language of Ashdod or some other place, and they couldn't speak the language of Judah.

25 I argued with those people, put curses on them, hit some of them, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to make a promise to God, saying, "Do not let your daughters marry the sons of foreigners, and do not take the daughters of foreigners as wives for your sons or yourselves.

26 Foreign women made King Solomon of Israel sin. There was never a king like him in any of the nations. God loved Solomon and made him king over all Israel, but foreign women made him sin.

27 And now you are not obedient when you do this evil thing. You are unfaithful to our God when you marry foreign wives."