THE SEPARATION OF ISRAEL

THE SEPARATION OF ISRAEL

THE SEPARATION OF ISRAEL
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     A study to show what the scriptures teach concerning the separation of the Nation of Israel
from those nations surrounding them. This looks at the practice of taking foreign wives, the
separation on a national basis, the making of no covenants with the nations of Canaan, the
physical destruction of the inhabitants of those particular nations, and the reasons for it.
     There were also nations which were not to be treated in this manner. The strangers or
sojourners who consented to live with(or in their boundaries) the children of Israel had the same
legal status as Israelites and were to be treated as such. It is also clear that the genocide of the
nations of Canaan applied to the nations which God had designated, and those nations only. This
would explain why the principal of separation continued, which applied to all nations, and the
principal of not taking wives of foreign nations also continued, which again applied to all, but the
utter destruction of foreign nations was not a general principal, but one specific to a certain time
frame and people, and therefore did not continue.
     These admonitions were taken up by those returning from exile in Babylon, while the principal
of extermination no longer applied.

THE TAKING OF WIVES

THE NATIONAL SEPARATION

MAKE NO COVENANTS WITH THEM

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PAGAN NATIONS

THE REASONS

NATIONS NOT HATED

STRANGERS IN THE LAND

COMBINED SCRIPTURES

THE TAKING OF WIVES

DEUTERONOMY 7:2-4
2    "and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly
destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
3    "ƒNor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor
take their daughter for your son.
4    "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of
the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.

JOSHUA 23:11-13
11   "Therefore take diligent heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God.
12   "Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations- these that
remain among you- ƒand make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you,
13   "know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before
you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your
eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

I KINGS 11:1-2
1    But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of
the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites-
2    ƒfrom the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not
intermarry with them, nor they with you. For surely they will turn away your hearts after their
gods." Solomon clung to these in love.

EZRA 9:1-2
1    When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, "The people of Israel and the
priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, with respect
to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites,
the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
2    "ƒFor they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that
the holy seed is intermingled with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and
rulers has been foremost in this trespass.

EZRA 9:10-14
10   "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your
commandments,
11   "which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land which you are
entering to possess is an unclean land, with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their
abominations which have filled it from one end to another with their impurity.
12   ƒ'Now therefore, do not give your daughters as wives for their sons, nor take their daughters
to your sons; and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good
of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.'
13   "And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our
God have punished us less then our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this,
14   ƒ"should we again break your commandments, and join in marriage with the people of these
abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there would
be no remnant or survivor?

EZRA 10:2-3
2    And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, "ƒWe
have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet
now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.
3    "Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those
who have been born to them, according to the counsel of my master and of those who tremble at
the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

EZRA 10:10,11,14,17,18,19
10   Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, ƒ"You have transgressed and have taken
pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel.
11   "Now therefore, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; separate
yourselves from the peoples of the land, ƒand from the pagan wives."
14   "Please, let the leaders of our entire congregation stand; and let all those in our cities ƒwho
have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their
cities, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter."
17   By the first day of the first month they finished questioning all the men ƒwho had taken pagan
wives.
18   And among the sons of the priests ƒwho had taken pagan wives the following were found of
the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

NEHEMIAH 10:29-30
29   they joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath ƒto walk in
God's Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the
commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes-
ƒ30   that we would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their
daughters for our sons;

NEHEMIAH 13:23-27
23   In those days I also saw ƒJews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24   And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of
Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.
25   So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair,
and made them swear by God, saying, ƒ"You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons,
nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves.
26   "Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there wa no
king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. ƒNevertheless
pagan women caused even him to sin.
27   ƒ"Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by
marrying pagan women?"

THE NATIONAL SEPARATION

EXODUS 23:31-32
31   "And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the
desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall
drive them out before you.
32   ƒ"You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

EXODUS 34:11-12
11   "Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the
Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
12   ƒ"Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you
are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.

DEUTERONOMY 7:1-2
1    "When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out
many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites
and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
2    "and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly
destroy them. ƒYou shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PAGAN NATIONS

EXODUS 23:31
31   "And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the
desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall
drive them out before you.

EXODUS 34:11
11   "Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the
Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

LEVITICUS 20:23-24
23   'And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for
they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.
24   'But I have said to you, "You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a
land flowing with milk and honey." I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the
peoples.

NUMBERS 21:2-3
2    So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, "If You will indeed deliver this people into my
hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities."
3    And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly
destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called Hormah.

NUMBERS 31:14-17
14   But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and
captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.
15   And Moses said to them: ƒ"Have you kept all the women alive?
16   "Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass
against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the
Lord.
17   ƒ"Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known
a man intimately.
ƒ
DEUTERONOMY 2:34
34   ƒ"We took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones
of every city; we left none remaining.
ƒ
DEUTERONOMY 7:1-2
1    "When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, ƒand has cast out
many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites
and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
ƒ2    "and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly
destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.

DEUTERONOMY 12:29
29   "When the Lord your God ƒcuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess,
and you displace them and dwell in their land,

DEUTERONOMY 19:1
1    ƒ"When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving
you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,
ƒ
DEUTERONOMY 20:16-17
16   "But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, ƒyou
shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,
17   ƒ"but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the
Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you,
ƒ
JOSHUA 10:40
40   So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and the lowland and
the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; ƒhe left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that
breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.

JOSHUA 11:3,8,11,12,14
3    to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the
Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
8    And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to
Greater Sidon, to the Brook Misrephoth, and to the Valley of Mizpah eastward; ƒthey attacked
them until they left none of them remaining.
ƒ11   And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying
them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire.
12   ƒSo all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua took and struck with the edge of
the sword. He utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded.
14   And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the children of Israel took as booty for
themselves; ƒbut they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them,
and they left none breathing.

THE REASONS

EXODUS 23:32-33
32   "You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33   "They shall not dwell in your land, ƒlest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their
gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

EXODUS 34:11-16
11   "Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the
Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
12   "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you
are going, ƒlest it be a snare in your midst.
13   "But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden
images
14   "(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
15   ƒ"lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with
their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his
sacrifice,
ƒ16   "and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their
gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.
ƒ
NUMBERS 31:15-17
15   And Moses said to them: "Have you kept all the women alive?
ƒ16   "Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to
trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation
of the Lord.
ƒ17   "Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has
known a man intimately.

DEUTERONOMY 7:4
ƒ4    "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of
the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
ƒ
DEUTERONOMY 12:29-30
29   "When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess,
and you displace them and dwell in their land,
ƒ30   "take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed
from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve
their gods? I also will do likewise.'
ƒ31   "You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord
which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the
fire to their gods.
ƒ
ƒ
DEUTERONOMY 20:16-18
16   "But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you
shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,
17   "but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the
Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you,
ƒ18   "lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their
gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.
ƒ
JOSHUA 23:11-13
11   "Therefore take diligent heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God.
ƒ12   "Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations- these that
remain among you- and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you,
ƒ13   "know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before
you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your
eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
ƒ
JUDGES 3:1-7
1    Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all
who had not known any of the wars in Canaan
3    namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who
dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
4    And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the
commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5    So the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
ƒ6    And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and
they served their gods.
ƒ7    So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and
served the Baals and Asherahs.
ƒ
I KINGS 8:53
53   "For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth ƒto be Your inheritance,
as You spoke by the hand of Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O
Lord God."

I KINGS 11:1-8
1    But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of
the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites-
2    from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not
intermarry with them, nor they with you. ƒFor surely they will turn away your hearts after their
gods." Solomon clung to these in love.
3    And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives
turned away his heart.
4    ƒFor it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and
his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.
5    ƒFor Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the
abomination of the Ammonites.
ƒ6    Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father
David.
ƒ7    Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is
east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.
ƒ8    And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their
gods.
ƒ
ƒ

NATIONS NOT HATED

DEUTERONOMY 23:7
7 "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian,
because you were an alien in his land.

STRANGERS IN THE LAND

EXODUS 12:48-49
48   "And when a stranger sojourns with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all
his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the
land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
49   "One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who sojourns among you."

EXODUS 22:21
21   "You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of
Egypt.

EXODUS 23:9
9    "Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you
were strangers in the land of Egypt.

LEVITICUS 19:34
33   'And if a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.
34   'But the stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you
shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

LEVITICUS 24:22
22   'You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am
the Lord your God.'"

NUMBERS 9:14
14   'And if a stranger sojourns among you, and would keep the Lord's Passover, he must do so
according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; you shall have one ordinance,
both for the stranger and the native of the land.'"

NUMBERS 15:15-16
15   'One ordinance shall be for you of the congregation and for the stranger who sojourns with
you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before
the Lord.
16   'One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.'"

DEUTERONOMY 10:17-19
17   "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and
awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
18   "He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him
food and clothing.
19   "Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

DEUTERONOMY 24:17-18
17   "You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow's garment
as a pledge.
18   "But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed
you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.

PSALM 146:9
9    The Lord watches over the strangers;
     He relieves the fatherless and widow;
     But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.

COMBINED SCRIPTURES

EXODUS 23:31-33
31   "And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the
desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall
drive them out before you.
32   "You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33   "They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their
gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

EXODUS 33:16
16   "For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight,
except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are
upon the face of the earth."

EXODUS 34:11-16
11   "Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the
Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
12   "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you
are going, lest it be a snare in your midst.
13   "But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden
images
14   "(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
15   "lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their
gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice,
16   "and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods
and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.

LEVITICUS 20:23-26
23   'And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for
they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.
24   'But I have said to you, "You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a
land flowing with milk and honey." I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the
peoples.
25   'You shall therefore distinguish between clean beasts and unclean, between unclean birds and
clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living
thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
26   'And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the
peoples, that you should be Mine.

NUMBERS 21:2-3
2    So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, "If You will indeed deliver this people into my
hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities."
3    And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly
destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called Hormah.

NUMBERS 31:14-17
14   But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and
captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.
15   And Moses said to them: "Have you kept all the women alive?
16   "Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass
against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the
Lord.
17   "Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a
man intimately.

DEUTERONOMY 2:34
34   "We took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones
of every city; we left none remaining.

DEUTERONOMY 7:1-6
1    "When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out
many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites
and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
2    "and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly
destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
3    "Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor
take their daughter for your son.
4    "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of
the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
5    "But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred
pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
6    "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a
people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

DEUTERONOMY 12:29-31
29   "When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess,
and you displace them and dwell in their land,
30   "take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from
before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their
gods? I also will do likewise.'
31   "You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord
which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the
fire to their gods.

DEUTERONOMY 19:1
1    "When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving
you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

DEUTERONOMY 20:16-18
16   "But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you
shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,
17   "but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the
Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you,
18   "lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their
gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.

JOSHUA 10:40
40   So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and the lowland and
the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that
breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.

JOSHUA 11:3,8,11,12,14
3    to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the
Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
8    And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to
Greater Sidon, to the Brook Misrephoth, and to the Valley of Mizpah eastward; they attacked
them until they left none of them remaining.
11   And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying
them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire.
12   So all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua took and struck with the edge of
the sword. He utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded.
14   And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the children of Israel took as booty for
themselves; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them,
and they left none breathing.

JOSHUA 23:11-13
11   "Therefore take diligent heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God.
12   "Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations- these that
remain among you- and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you,
13   "know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before
you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your
eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

JUDGES 3:1-7
1    Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all
who had not known any of the wars in Canaan
3    namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who
dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
4    And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the
commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5    So the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
6    And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and
they served their gods.
7    So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and
served the Baals and Asherahs.

I KINGS 8:53
53   "For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, as
You spoke by the hand of Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O
Lord God."

I KINGS 11:1-8
1    But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of
the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites-
2    from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not
intermarry with them, nor they with you. For surely they will turn away your hearts after their
gods." Solomon clung to these in love.
3    And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives
turned away his heart.
4    For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his
heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.
5    For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the
abomination of the Ammonites.
6    Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father
David.
7    Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east
of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.
8    And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

EZRA 6:21
21   Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had
separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of
Israel.

EZRA 9:1-2
1    When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, "The people of Israel and the
priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, with respect
to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites,
the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
2    "For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that
the holy seed is intermingled with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and
rulers has been foremost in this trespass.

EZRA 9:10-14
10   "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your
commandments,
11   "which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land which you are
entering to possess is an unclean land, with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their
abominations which have filled it from one end to another with their impurity.
12   'Now therefore, do not give your daughters as wives for their sons, nor take their daughters
to your sons; and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of
the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.'
13   "And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our
God have punished us less then our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this,
14   "should we again break your commandments, and join in marriage with the people of these
abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there would
be no remnant or survivor?

EZRA 10:2-3
2    And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, "We
have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet
now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.
3    "Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those
who have been born to them, according to the counsel of my master and of those who tremble at
the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

EZRA 10:10,11,14,17,18,19
10   Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have transgressed and have taken
pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel.
11   "Now therefore, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers, and do His will; separate
yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives."
14   "Please, let the leaders of our entire congregation stand; and let all those in our cities who
have taken pagan wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their
cities, until the fierce wrath of our God is turned away from us in this matter."
17   By the first day of the first month they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan
wives.
18   And among the sons of the priests who had taken pagan wives the following were found of
the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

NEHEMIAH 10:29-30
29   they joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in
God's Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the
commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes-
30   that we would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their
daughters for our sons;

NEHEMIAH 13:23-27
23   In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24   And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of
Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.
25   So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair,
and made them swear by God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons,
nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves.
26   "Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there wa no
king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless
pagan women caused even him to sin.
27   "Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by
marrying pagan women?"

PSALM 106:34-41
34   They did not destroy the peoples,
     Concerning whom the Lord had commanded them,
35   But they mingled with the Gentiles
     And learned their works;
36   They served their idols,
     Which became a snare to them.
37   They even sacrificed their sons
     And their daughters to demons,
38   And shed innocent blood,
     Even the blood of their sons and daughters,
     Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
     And the land was polluted with blood.
39   Thus they were defiled by their own works,
     And played the harlot by their own deeds.
40   Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His
        people,
     So that He abhorred His own inheritance.
41   And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles,
     And those who hated them ruled over them.