Ezra 9:2

Disdain Over Mixed Marriages

¹ After these things had been done, the leaders approached me and said: “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the surrounding peoples whose detestable practices are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. ² Indeed, the Israelite men have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has become mixed with the surrounding peoples. The leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!” ³ When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard, and sat down devastated.

Among the Nations

Men of Israel

People of the Land

Peoples of the Land

Ezra

Sin

Exodus 22:31

“Be My holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; throw it to the dogs.

Exodus 34:16

Then you will take some of their daughters as brides for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.

Ezra 10:18-44

The following were found to have married foreign women from the descendants of the priests:

from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

Nehemiah 13:23-24

In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

2 Corinthians 6:14

Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

Deuteronomy 7:6

For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be His own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 14:2

for you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you to be His own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

Ezra 10:2

Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, an Elamite, responded to Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the surrounding peoples, but there is still hope for Israel in spite of this.

Genesis 6:2

the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves.

Exodus 19:6

and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

Deuteronomy 7:1-4

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and He drives out many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you—

Nehemiah 13:3-4

When they heard the law, they separated all those of mixed descent from Israel.

Nehemiah 13:17

I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them: “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?

Nehemiah 13:28

Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me.

Isaiah 6:13

Though a tenth will remain in the land,
it will be burned again.
Like the terebinth or the oak
that leaves a stump when felled,
the holy seed is the stump.

Malachi 2:11

Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord’s sanctuary, which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

Malachi 2:15

Didn’t the one God make us with a remnant of His life-breath? And what does the One seek? A godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth.

1 Corinthians 7:14

For the unbelieving husband is set apart for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart for God by the husband. Otherwise your children would be corrupt, but now they are set apart for God.