Nehemiah 13:3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.

◄ Nehemiah 13:3 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.

English Standard Version
As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.

New American Standard Bible
So when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel.

King James Bible
Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When they heard the law, they separated all those of mixed descent from Israel.

International Standard Version
When they heard the Law, they separated all those of foreign descent from Israel.

American Standard Version
And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated every stranger from Israel.

Darby Bible Translation
And it came to pass, when they heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

Young's Literal Translation
And it cometh to pass, at their hearing the law, that they separate all the mixed people from Israel.

Cross References

Exodus 12:38
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

Ezra 9:2
For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.

Nehemiah 9:2
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

Nehemiah 10:28
And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding;

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Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

13:1-9 Israel was a peculiar people, and not to mingle with the nations. See the benefit of publicly reading the word of God; when it is duly attended to, it discovers to us sin and duty, good and evil, and shows wherein we have erred. We profit, when we are thus wrought upon to separate from evil. Those that would drive sin out of their hearts, the living temples, must throw out its household stuff, and all the provision made for it; and take away all the things that are the food and fuel of lust; this is really to mortify it. When sin is cast out of the heart by repentance, let the blood of Christ be applied to it by faith, then let it be furnished with the graces of God's Spirit, for every good work.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

CHAPTER 13

Ne 13:1-9. Upon the Reading of the Law Separation Is Made from the Mixed Multitude.

1. On that day—This was not immediately consequent on the dedication of the city wall and gates, but after Nehemiah's return from the Persian court to Jerusalem, his absence having extended over a considerable period. The transaction here described probably took place on one of the periodical occasions for the public readings of the law, when the people's attention was particularly directed to some violations of it which called for immediate correction. There is another instance afforded, in addition to those which have already fallen under our notice, of the great advantages resulting from the public and periodical reading of the divine law. It was an established provision for the religious instruction of the people, for diffusing a knowledge and a reverence for the sacred volume, as well as for removing those errors and corruptions which might, in the course of time, have crept in.

the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever—that is, not be incorporated into the Israelitish kingdom, nor united in marriage relations with that people (De 23:3, 4). This appeal to the authority of the divine law led to a dissolution of all heathen alliances (Ne 9:2; Ezr 10:3).