Judges 3:6
in Judges 3And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.
KJV
And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
⋯
This verse in Judges 3
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd they took their daughters - They formed matrimonial alliances with those proscribed nations, served their idols, and thus became one with them in politics and religion.
This site's exposition
the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites
on Judges 3:5-6
Six nations are named here where Deuteronomy 7:1 named seven, and the Girgashites are the one missing. Verse 6 answers Deuteronomy 7:3 clause by clause: "Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons". The reason given at Deuteronomy 7:4 is that "they will turn your sons away from following Me", and verse 6 reports that outcome in four words, "and served their gods".
This site's exposition
took the daughters of these people in marriage
Adam Clarke says the marriages made Israel one with these nations in politics and in religion. The verse moves in one line from marriage to worship. Verse 7 names the result, as Israel forgot the LORD and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), though they could not advance either their honour or their estate by marrying with them. They would mar their blood instead of mending it, and sink their estates instead of raising them, by such marriages. Thus they were brought to join in worship with them; they served their gods (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons,....
(2.) It is no matter how weak the weapon is if God direct and strengthen the arm. An ox-goad, when God pleases, shall do more than Goliath's sword. And sometimes he chooses to work by such unlikely means, that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites--The two peoples by degrees came to be on habits of intercourse. Reciprocal alliances were formed by marriage till the Israelites, relaxing the austerity of their principles, showed a growing conformity to the manners and worship of their idolatrous neighbors.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּקְח֨וּ | vaiyikchu | and they took | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנוֹתֵיהֶ֤ם | benoteihem | daughters their | H1323 → | 588 times |
| לָהֶם֙ | lahem | for <the> themselves | ||
| לְנָשִׁ֔ים | lenashim | to wives | H802 → | 781 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנוֹתֵיהֶ֖ם | benoteihem | daughters their | H1323 → | 588 times |
| נָתְנ֣וּ | natenu | they gave | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לִבְנֵיהֶ֑ם | livneihem | to sons their | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וַיַּעַבְד֖וּ | vaiyaavdu | and they served | H5647 → | 288 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃ פ | ʾeloheihem | gods their | H430 → | 2601 times |
וַיִּקְח֨וּand they took
vaiyikchuH3947 →966 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּנוֹתֵיהֶ֤םdaughters their
benoteihemH1323 →588 times
לָהֶם֙for <the> themselves
lahem
לְנָשִׁ֔יםto wives
lenashimH802 →781 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
בְּנוֹתֵיהֶ֖םdaughters their
benoteihemH1323 →588 times
נָתְנ֣וּthey gave
natenuH5414 →2011 times
לִבְנֵיהֶ֑םto sons their
livneihemH1121 →4930 times
וַיַּעַבְד֖וּand they served
vaiyaavduH5647 →288 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃ פgods their
ʾeloheihemH430 →2601 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 16:3and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 16:45
You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father…
- Isaiah 51:1–2
“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn.
- Deuteronomy 20:17
For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,
- John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him.…
- Nehemiah 9:7
You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.
- Ezekiel 16:45
Through
Exodus 34:16And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 11:2–4
These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to…
- Ezra 9:2
Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and…
- Deuteronomy 7:3–4
Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
- 1 Kings 11:2–4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Judges

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
