Nehemiah 13:25

25 And I strove with them and cursed them; and I smote some of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, and ye shall not take of their daughters to your sons.

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 And in those days I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, of Moab:

24 and their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and did not know how to speak in the Jewish language.

25 And I strove with them and cursed them; and I smote some of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, and ye shall not take of their daughters to your sons.

26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin thus? though there was no king like him among many nations, and he was beloved of God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet strange women turned him aside.

27 So we will not hearken to you to do all this evil, to break covenant with our God, —to marry strange wives.