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25 So I reprimanded those Jews, cursed them, beat some of them, and pulled out their hair. I made them swear by God: |We won't allow our daughters to marry their sons, and we won't allow their daughters to marry us or our sons.| 26 I said, |Wasn't it because of marriages like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? There wasn't a king like him among all nations. God loved him, and God made him king of all Israel. But his non-Israelite wives led him to sin. 27 Should we follow your example, commit such a serious crime against our God, and be unfaithful to him by marrying non-Israelite women?| 28 Even one of Joiada's sons was a son-in-law of Sanballat from Beth Horon. (Joiada was the son of the chief priest Eliashib.) I chased Joiada's son away from me. 29 [Nehemiah prayed,] |Remember them, my God, because they have contaminated the priestly office and the promise you made to the priests and Levites.| 30 So I cleansed them from everything that was foreign. I assigned duties to the priests and Levites. Each one had his own assignment. 31 I also arranged for delivering wood at regular times and for bringing the first produce to be harvested. [Nehemiah prayed,] |Remember me, my God, for my benefit.| Nehemiah 13:25-31, God's Word Translation. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations.
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