Ezra 9:12
What does Ezra 9:12 mean?
A plain-English look at Ezra 9:12 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Ezra 9:12 means
God’s command was clear: do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, and do not seek the other nations’ peace or prosperity. The aim was not hatred but holiness—so that Israel would be strong, enjoy the land’s good, and pass it securely to their children. Seeking their “peace” here means courting alliances and benefits that entangle the heart and compromise loyalty to Jehovah. Marriage is the most intimate alliance; to form it with idolaters invites divided worship. God’s commands protect life and blessing. Ignoring them risks both present strength and future inheritance.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever; that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever; that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949So now do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or do anything for their peace or well-being for ever; so that you may be strong, living on the good of the land, and handing it on to your children for a heritage for ever.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and now, your daughters ye do not give to their sons, and their daughters ye do not take to your sons, and ye do not seek their peace, and their good--unto the age, so that ye are strong, and have eaten the good of the land, and given possession to your sons unto the age.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Now therefore give not your daughters to their sons, and take not their daughters for your sons, and seek not their peace, nor their prosperity for ever: that you may be strengthened, and may eat the good things of the land, and may have your children your heirs for ever.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Now therefore give not your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever; that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
Context
Following the general principle in verse 11, verse 12 names the specific prohibition and its purpose. This frames the present intermarriage as a direct violation that threatens Israel’s covenant strength and future. The next verses (13–14) will emphasize the madness of repeating such disobedience after God has already judged and then mercifully restored them. The flow moves from command to consequence, pressing the people toward contrition and change.
v.11which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness:
v.12This passage
v.13And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such a remnant,
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Exodus 23:32
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
- 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 peoples of the lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.
- Isaiah 1:19
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
- Deuteronomy 6:1
Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it;
- Psalms 112:1
Praise ye Jehovah. Blessed is the man that feareth Jehovah, That delighteth greatly in his commandments.
- Genesis 18:18
seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?