Nehemiah 13:3
in Nehemiah 13As soon as the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all of foreign descent.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.
KJV
Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.
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This verse in Nehemiah 13
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
A separation like that made by Ezra, some 20 years previously Ezra 10:15-44, seems to be intended. The pagan wives were divorced and sent back, with their offspring, to their own countries.
This site's exposition
no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God
on Nehemiah 13:1-3
The public reading turns up the law "that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God," the ban of Deuteronomy 23. The people "excluded from Israel all of foreign descent," a reading Keil dates after Nehemiah's return.
This site's exposition
they excluded from Israel all of foreign descent
Barnes compares the separation Ezra made about twenty years before (Ezra 10), when foreign wives were sent back with their children. Henry allows that the reading took place on a later anniversary of the dedication. The chapter's last reform returns to the same issue at verse 23.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Now it came to pass when they heard the law, etc. Hearing the law about the two enemy nations to be anathematized, the faithful people immediately separated all foreigners from themselves; because it is necessary for us to attend to the hearing of the truth …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Or, perhaps, it was on the anniversary commemoration of that day, some years after, and therefore said to be on that day. They found a law, that the Ammonites and Moabites should not be naturalized, should not settle among them, nor unite with them,
They separated from Israel all the mixed multitude, which had of old been a snare to them, for the mixed multitude fell a lusting, Num. xi. These inmates they expelled, as usurpers and dangerous. The particular case of Tobiah, who was an Ammonite, and to whom, it is likely, the historian had an eye in the recital of the law (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law,.... Or the law concerning the Ammonite and the Moabite, and which included other nations also, and forbad marriage with them: that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude; all of these, and other nations, they had contracted affinity with.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
They separated from Israel all the mixed multitude - They excluded all strange women, and all persons, young and old, who had been born of these illegal connections.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְהִ֖י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּשָׁמְעָ֣ם | keshameam | when heard they | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַתּוֹרָ֑ה | hatorah | the law | H8451 → | 219 times |
| וַיַּבְדִּ֥ילוּ | vaiyavdilu | and they separated | H914 → | 42 times |
| כָל־ | khol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֵ֖רֶב | ʾerev | person of mixed ancestry | H6154 → | |
| מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ | miyisrael | from Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
וַיְהִ֖יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
כְּשָׁמְעָ֣םwhen heard they
keshameamH8085 →1159 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַתּוֹרָ֑הthe law
hatorahH8451 →219 times
וַיַּבְדִּ֥ילוּand they separated
vaiyavdiluH914 →42 times
כָל־every
khol-H3605 →5413 times
עֵ֖רֶבperson of mixed ancestry
ʾerevH6154 →
מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃from Israel
miyisraelH3478 →2507 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
James 1:27Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:16–17
Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- 1 John 3:17–19
If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?
- Galatians 6:9–10
Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of…
- Matthew 25:34–46
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- Isaiah 1:16–17
Through
Numbers 11:4Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 10:6
These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.
- Exodus 12:38
And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
- 1 Corinthians 10:6
Through
Exodus 12:38And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
it leads to
- Numbers 11:4
Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
- Numbers 11:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Nehemiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.