And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons:
And we promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the people living in the land around us, nor to take their daughters as wives for our sons.
The writer is describing a commitment the Israelites made to not intermarry with the non-Jewish people living around them.
📚 Historical Context
This verse is part of a covenant the returned Jewish exiles made after rebuilding Jerusalem's walls around 445 BC. The Israelites had just returned from 70 years of exile in Babylon, and intermarriage with pagan peoples had previously led to idol worship and spiritual compromise. They were recommitting to keeping their faith and community distinct from the surrounding cultures that worshiped other gods.
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