“ 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.

你们若稍微转去，与你们中间所剩下的这些国民联络，彼此结亲，互相往来，

你们若断然转离，紧紧跟随你们中间所剩下的这些国家，彼此结亲，互相往来，

你们若断然转离，紧紧跟随你们中间所剩下的这些国家，彼此结亲，互相往来，

如果你们悖逆，跟你们当中剩下的异族人联合，通婚往来，

如果你们转离耶和华，与你们中间剩下的这些国家的余民联络，和他们通婚，互相来往，

你們若稍微轉去，與你們中間所剩下的這些國民聯絡，彼此結親，互相往來，

你們若斷然轉離，緊緊跟隨你們中間所剩下的這些國家，彼此結親，互相往來，

你們若斷然轉離，緊緊跟隨你們中間所剩下的這些國家，彼此結親，互相往來，

如果你們悖逆，跟你們當中剩下的異族人聯合，通婚往來，

如果你們轉離耶和華，與你們中間剩下的這些國家的餘民聯絡，和他們通婚，互相來往，

你們若稍微轉離，去緊依附着這些在你們中間剩下來的餘留之國的人，而和他們彼此結親，攙雜通婚，

爾若轉而合於爾中遺民、與之嫁娶往來、

如爾反是、恆從爾中遺民、與之嫁娶往來、

如爾違背、而與爾中所遺之民聯絡、與之嫁娶往來、往來或作相雜

“ But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them,

For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,

“ But if you turn away from him and cling to the customs of the survivors of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry with them,

If you ever turn away and become loyal to the rest of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry or associate with them and they with you,

For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain with you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,

Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations— these that remain among you— and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you,

Else if ye do at all go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you;

For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry or associate with them and they with you,

Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations,[ even] these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:

But if you ever turn away and make alliances with these nations that remain near you, and intermarry with them and establish friendly relations with them,

“ But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you;

Don’t marry any of their people. Don’t give your daughters to their sons. And don’t take their daughters for your sons.

I will destroy those who stop following the Lord. They no longer look to him or ask him for advice.

Then the evil spirit goes and takes with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and live there. That person is worse off than before. That is how it will be with the evil people of today.”

You gave us your commands through your servants the prophets. You said,‘ You are entering the land to take it as your own. The sinful practices of its people have made the land impure. They have filled it with their“ unclean” acts from one end to the other. The Lord hates all their practices.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.’

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)So,“ Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch anything that is not pure and‘ clean.’ Then I will receive you.”( Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34, 41)

In those days I also saw that some men of Judah had married women from Ashdod. Others had married women from Ammon or Moab.Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod. Or they spoke the language of one of the other nations. They didn’t even know how to speak the language of Judah.So I gave them a warning. I cursed them. I beat up some of them. I pulled their hair out. I had them make a promise in God’s name. I said,“ You must promise not to give your daughters to be married to their sons. You must promise not to let their daughters marry your sons. And you must not marry their daughters either.That’s how Solomon, the king of Israel, sinned. He married women from other nations. There wasn’t a king like him anywhere. His God loved him. In fact, God made him king over the whole nation of Israel. But even he was led into sin by women from other lands.

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

But the Lord will drive out those who have taken crooked paths. He will drive them out with those who do evil things. May Israel enjoy peace.

They speak empty, bragging words. They make their appeal to the evil desires that come from sin’s power. They tempt new believers who are just escaping from the company of sinful people.They promise to give freedom to these new believers. But they themselves are slaves to sinful living. That’s because“ people are slaves to anything that controls them.”They may have escaped the sin of the world. They may have come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But what if they are once again caught up in sin? And what if it has become their master? Then they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.Suppose they had not known the way of godliness. This would have been better than to know godliness and then turn away from it. The way of godliness is the sacred command passed on to them.What the proverbs say about them is true.“ A dog returns to where it has thrown up.”( Proverbs 26:11) And,“ A pig that is washed goes back to rolling in the mud.”

As Solomon grew older, his wives turned his heart toward other gods. He didn’t follow the Lord his God with all his heart. So he wasn’t like his father David.

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

After all these things had been done, the leaders came to me. They said,“ The people of Israel have committed sins. Even the priests and Levites have sinned. They haven’t kept themselves separate from the nations around them. The Lord hates the practices of those nations. He hates what the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites do. He also hates what the Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites do.The men of Israel have married the daughters of some of those people. They’ve also taken some of those women for their sons to marry. So they’ve mixed our holy nation with the nations around us. We leaders and officials have also married women who don’t worship the Lord. By doing this, we have led the way in breaking our covenant with the Lord.”

Be careful. Do not make a peace treaty with those who live in the land where you are going. They will be a trap to you.Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Cut down the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah.Do not worship any other god. The Lord is a jealous God. In fact, his name is Jealous.“ Be careful not to make a peace treaty with the people living in the land. They commit sin by offering sacrifices to their gods. They will invite you to eat their sacrifices, and you will do it.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.

Their mouths speak words that are evil and false. They do not act wisely or do what is good.

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.

How terrible it will be for this sinful nation! They are loaded down with guilt. They are people who do nothing but evil. They are children who are always sinning. They have deserted the Lord. They have turned against the Holy One of Israel. They have turned their backs on him.

They didn’t destroy the nations in Canaan as the Lord had commanded them.Instead, they mixed with those nations and adopted their ways.

“ Suppose a godly person stops doing what is right. And they sin. They do the same evil things a sinful person does. They do things I hate. Then they will not live. I will not remember any of the right things they have done. They have not been faithful to me. They have also committed many other sins. So they are guilty. They will die.

From this time on, many of his disciples turned back. They no longer followed him.

And,“ The one who is right with God will live by faith. And I am not pleased with the one who pulls back.”( Habakkuk 2:3, 4)But we don’t belong to the people who pull back and are destroyed. We belong to the people who believe and are saved.

Suppose someone claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister. Then they are still in the darkness.

David finished talking with Saul. After that, Jonathan and David became close friends. Jonathan loved David just as he loved himself.From that time on, Saul kept David with him. He didn’t let him return home to his family.Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him just as he loved himself.

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