Israel to Destroy Idolatrous Nations

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land^(A) you are entering to possess,^(B) and he drives out many nations before you—the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations^(C) more numerous and powerful than you^(D)— ² and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy^(E) them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.^{(F) 3} You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,^{(G) 4} because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods.^(H) Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you,^(I) and he will swiftly destroy you.

² Indeed, the Israelite men^[a] have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed^(A) has become mixed with the surrounding peoples.^(B) The leaders^[b] and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!” ^(C)

²³ In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.^{(A) 24} Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew.^{[a](B) 25} I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair.^(C) I forced them to take an oath^(D) 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 yourselves!^{(E) 26} Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.^{(F) 27} Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?” ^{(G) 28} Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib,^(H) had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite.^(I) So I drove him away from me.^(J)