The Lord had warned Israel about women from other nations. He had said,“ You must not marry them. If you do, you can be sure they will turn your hearts toward their gods.” But Solomon continued to love them anyway. He wouldn’t give them up.

论到这些国的人，耶和华曾晓谕以色列人说：“你们不可与她们往来相通，因为她们必诱惑你们的心去随从她们的神。”所罗门却恋爱这些女子。

论到这些国的人，耶和华曾吩咐以色列人说：“你们不可跟他们通婚，他们也不可跟你们在一起，因为他们一定会诱惑你们的心去随从他们的神明。”所罗门却为了爱，紧紧跟从他们。

论到这些国的人，耶和华曾吩咐以色列人说：“你们不可跟他们通婚，他们也不可跟你们在一起，因为他们一定会诱惑你们的心去随从他们的神明。”所罗门却为了爱，紧紧跟从他们。

耶和华曾告诉以色列人不可跟这些外族人通婚，免得受引诱去随从他们的神明，所罗门却迷恋这些女子。

关于这些国家的人，耶和华曾经吩咐以色列人：“你们不可与他们往来通婚，否则他们必会引诱你们的心，去随从他们的神。”但所罗门深深爱恋这些女子。

論到這些國的人，耶和華曾曉諭以色列人說：「你們不可與她們往來相通，因為她們必誘惑你們的心去隨從她們的神。」所羅門卻戀愛這些女子。

論到這些國的人，耶和華曾吩咐以色列人說：「你們不可跟他們通婚，他們也不可跟你們在一起，因為他們一定會誘惑你們的心去隨從他們的神明。」所羅門卻為了愛，緊緊跟從他們。

論到這些國的人，耶和華曾吩咐以色列人說：「你們不可跟他們通婚，他們也不可跟你們在一起，因為他們一定會誘惑你們的心去隨從他們的神明。」所羅門卻為了愛，緊緊跟從他們。

耶和華曾告訴以色列人不可跟這些外族人通婚，免得受引誘去隨從他們的神明，所羅門卻迷戀這些女子。

關於這些國家的人，耶和華曾經吩咐以色列人：“你們不可與他們往來通婚，否則他們必會引誘你們的心，去隨從他們的神。”但所羅門深深愛戀這些女子。

關於這些國的人、永恆主曾經對以色列人說：『你們不可去在他們中間，他們也不可來在你們中間：因為他們的確會使你們的心偏離、去隨從他們的神』；但所羅門卻戀慕着這些女子、而愛了她們。

耶和華曾諭以色列人云、勿與彼族往來相通、彼必誘惑爾心、俾從其神、然所羅門戀愛其女、

論及異族之人、耶和華曾諭以色列族云、爾與彼婚姻勿相通、恐其誘爾心從他上帝、然所羅門戀愛此女、

論此諸族、主曾諭以色列人曰、爾勿與彼往來相通、原文作勿入其中亦不容彼入爾中恐其誘惑爾心、信從他神、然所羅門戀愛此異族之女、

They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites,“ You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.

from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel,“ You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel,“ You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway.

from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites,“ You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.” To these women Solomon was deeply attached in love.

from the nations of which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel,“ You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you; they will certainly turn your heart away to follow their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel,“ You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

of the nations concerning which Jehovah said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

from the nations that the Lord had told the Israelites about,“ Do not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn you away from Me to their gods.” Solomon was deeply attached to these women and loved them.

Of the nations[ concerning] which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you:[ for] surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

They came from nations about which the LORD had warned the Israelites,“ You must not establish friendly relations with them! If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them.

of the nations concerning which Yahweh said to the children of Israel,“ You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon joined to these in love.

You will choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons. And those daughters will commit sin by worshiping their gods. Then they will lead your sons to do the same thing.

Don’t marry any of their people. Don’t give your daughters to their sons. And don’t take their daughters for your sons.If you do, those people will turn your children away from serving the Lord. Then your children will serve other gods. The Lord will be very angry with you. He will quickly destroy you.

“ But suppose you turn away from him. You mix with the people who are left alive in the nations that remain among you. Later, you and they get married to each other. And you do other kinds of things with them.Then you can be sure of what the Lord your God will do. He won’t drive out those nations to make room for you anymore. Instead, they will become traps and snares for you. They will be like whips on your backs. They will be like thorns in your eyes. All that will continue until you are destroyed. It will continue until you are removed from this good land. It’s the land the Lord your God has given you.

Israel was staying in Shittim. The men of Israel began to commit sexual sins with the women of Moab.The women invited the men to feasts and sacrifices to honor their gods. The people ate the sacrifices and bowed down in front of the statues of those gods.So Israel joined in worshiping the god named Baal that was worshiped at Peor. The Lord became very angry with Israel.

Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.Do not let them live in your land. If you do, they will cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, that will certainly be a trap for you.”

And Judah has been unfaithful. A hateful thing has been done in Israel and Jerusalem. The Lord loves his temple. But Judah has made it impure. Their men have married women who worship other gods.

Do not be joined to unbelievers. What do right and wrong have in common? Can light and darkness be friends?How can Christ and Satan agree? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?How can the temple of the true God and the statues of other gods agree? We are the temple of the living God. God has said,“ I will live with them. I will walk among them. I will be their God. And they will be my people.”( Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 32:38; Ezekiel 37:27)

‘ But here is something I hold against you. You have turned away from the love you had at first.

Don’t let anyone fool you.“ Bad companions make a good person bad.”

Love must be honest and true. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good.

They know that God’s commands are right. They know that those who do evil things should die. But they continue to do those very things. They also approve of others who do them.

He thought it was only a small thing to commit the sins Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had committed. Ahab also married Jezebel. She was Ethbaal’s daughter. Ethbaal was king of the people of Sidon. Ahab began to serve the god named Baal and worship him.He set up an altar to honor Baal. He set it up in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria.Ahab also made a pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. He made the Lord very angry. Ahab did more to make him angry than all the kings of Israel had done before him. The Lord is the God of Israel.

He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, just as the royal family of Ahab had done. In fact, he married a daughter of Ahab. Jehoram did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

That’s why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. The two of them become one.

Then he longed for Jacob’s daughter Dinah. He fell in love with her and spoke tenderly to her.

Shekaniah spoke to Ezra. Shekaniah was the son of Jehiel. He belonged to the family line of Elam. Shekaniah said,“ We haven’t been faithful to our God. We’ve married women from the nations around us. In spite of that, there is still hope for Israel.So let’s make a covenant in front of our God. Let’s promise to send away all these women and their children. That’s what you have advised us to do. Those who respect our God’s commands have given us the same advice. We want to do what the Law says.Get up, Ezra. This matter is in your hands. Do what you need to. We will be behind you all the way. Be brave and do it.”So Ezra got up. He made the leading priests and Levites and all the Israelites make a promise. He made them promise they would do what Shekaniah had suggested. And they made that promise.Then Ezra left the house of God. He went to Jehohanan’s room. Jehohanan was the son of Eliashib. While Ezra was there, he didn’t eat any food. He didn’t drink any water. That’s because he was filled with sadness. He mourned because the people weren’t faithful to the Lord’ s commands. Those people were the ones who had returned from the land of Babylon.Then an announcement was sent all through Judah and Jerusalem. All the people who had returned were told to gather together in Jerusalem.They were supposed to come there before three days had passed. If they didn’t, they would lose all their property. They would also be removed from the community of those who had returned. That’s what the officials and elders had decided.Before the three days were over, all the men of Judah and Benjamin had gathered together in Jerusalem. It was the 20th day of the ninth month. They were sitting in the open area in front of the house of God. They were very upset by what they knew would happen. And they were upset because it was raining.Then Ezra the priest stood up. He said,“ You haven’t been faithful to the Lord. You have married women from other lands. So you have added to Israel’s guilt.Now honor the Lord, the God of your people. Then do what he wants you to do. Separate yourselves from the nations around you. Send away your wives from other lands.”The whole community answered with a loud voice. They said,“ You are right! We must do as you say.But there are a lot of people here. And it’s the rainy season. So we can’t stand outside. Besides, this matter can’t be taken care of in just a day or two. That’s because we have sinned terribly by what we’ve done.Our officials can act for the whole community. Have everyone in our towns who has married a woman from another land come at a certain time. Tell them to come together with the elders and judges of each town. Then our God will no longer be angry with us concerning this whole matter.”Only a few men opposed that. They included Jonathan and Jahzeiah. Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite joined them. Jonathan was the son of Asahel. Jahzeiah was the son of Tikvah.So those who had returned did what had been suggested. Ezra the priest chose some family leaders. There was one from each family group. All of them were chosen by name. They sat down to check out each case. They started on the first day of the tenth month.By the first day of the first month they were finished. They had handled all the cases of the men who had married women from other lands.

Some time later, Samson fell in love again. The woman lived in the Valley of Sorek. Her name was Delilah.The rulers of the Philistines went to her. They said,“ See if you can get him to tell you the secret of why he’s so strong. Find out how we can overpower him. Then we can tie him up. We can bring him under our control. Each of us will give you 28 pounds of silver.”So Delilah said to Samson,“ Tell me the secret of why you are so strong. Tell me how you can be tied up and controlled.”Samson answered her,“ Let someone tie me up with seven new bowstrings. They must be strings that aren’t completely dry. Then I’ll become as weak as any other man.”So the Philistine rulers brought seven new bowstrings to her. They weren’t completely dry. Delilah tied Samson up with them.Men were hiding in the room. She called out to him,“ Samson! The Philistines are attacking you!” But he snapped the bowstrings easily. They were like pieces of string that had come too close to a flame. So the secret of why he was so strong wasn’t discovered.Delilah spoke to Samson again.“ You have made me look foolish,” she said.“ You told me a lie. Come on. Tell me how you can be tied up.”Samson said,“ Let someone tie me tightly with new ropes. They must be ropes that have never been used. Then I’ll become as weak as any other man.”So Delilah got some new ropes. She tied him up with them. Men were hiding in the room. She called out to him,“ Samson! The Philistines are attacking you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms. They fell off just as if they were threads.Delilah spoke to Samson again.“ All this time you have been making me look foolish,” she said.“ You have been telling me lies. This time really tell me how you can be tied up.” He replied,“ Weave the seven braids of my hair into the cloth on a loom. Then tighten the cloth with a pin. If you do, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while Samson was sleeping, Delilah took hold of the seven braids of his hair. She wove them into the cloth on a loom.Then she tightened the cloth with a pin. Again she called out to him,“ Samson! The Philistines are attacking you!” He woke up from his sleep. He pulled up the pin and the loom, together with the cloth.Then she said to him,“ How can you say,‘ I love you’? You won’t even share your secret with me. This is the third time you have made me look foolish. And you still haven’t told me the secret of why you are so strong.”She continued to pester him day after day. She nagged him until he was sick and tired of it.So he told her everything. He said,“ My hair has never been cut. That’s because I’ve been a Nazirite since the day I was born. A Nazirite is set apart to God. If you shave my head, I won’t be strong anymore. I’ll become as weak as any other man.”Delilah realized he had told her everything. So she sent a message to the Philistine rulers. She said,“ Come back one more time. He has told me everything.” So the rulers returned. They brought the silver with them.Delilah got Samson to go to sleep on her lap. Then she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair. That’s how she began to bring Samson under her control. And he wasn’t strong anymore.She called out,“ Samson! The Philistines are attacking you!” He woke up from his sleep. He thought,“ I’ll go out just as I did before. I’ll shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that the Lord had left him.Then the Philistines grabbed him. They poked his eyes out. They took him down to Gaza. They put bronze chains around him. Then they made him grind grain in the prison.

They married the daughters of those people. They gave their own daughters to the sons of those people. And they served the gods of those people.The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God. They served gods that were named Baal. They also served female gods that were named Asherah.

Lord, I really hate those who hate you! I really hate those who rise up against you!

So don’t let your daughters marry their sons. And don’t let their daughters marry your sons. Don’t make a peace treaty with them at any time. Then you will be strong. You will eat the good things the land produces. And you will leave all of it to your children as their share. They and their children after them will enjoy it forever.’

Jehu the prophet went out to meet him. He was the son of Hanani. Jehu said to the king,“ You shouldn’t help evil people. You shouldn’t love those who hate the Lord. The Lord is angry with you.