The Sin of Intermarriage

9 Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, who live according to their detestable practices—the practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. ² They have taken wives from their daughters for themselves and for their sons. They have thereby mixed the holy seed with the peoples of the lands, and the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!”