Nehemiah 13:25

25 I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for 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 also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.

25 I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!

26 Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.

27 Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”