Deuteronomy 7:3 forbids the Israelites from forming marriage ties with the nations already living in the land of Canaan. Their children were not to marry the children of those nations, because the family bond would pull Israel away from the LORD. Moses speaks these words to the people of Israel as they stand on the edge of the promised land, preparing to enter it.
You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
Deuteronomy 7:3 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 7:3 Means
The verse begins with a plain prohibition: “You shall not make marriages with them.” The word “them” points back to the nations listed in verse 1, the peoples the LORD would drive out before Israel. The command is not about marrying any stranger in general. It concerns the particular peoples whose religion centered on other gods and whose customs stood against the covenant.
The second part names the mechanics of the danger. A daughter given to a foreign son, or a son taking a foreign daughter, would create a household that could worship in two directions at once. The verse does not promise that every such marriage would end in apostasy, and it does not describe the spouse as beyond God’s reach. It identifies a real risk to a family’s faith and tells Israel to avoid it.
The Context of Deuteronomy 7:3
Deuteronomy is presented as a series of speeches Moses gave to Israel near the end of forty years in the wilderness. Tradition attributes the book to Moses, though many scholars date its final form later. Its first audience was the generation about to cross the Jordan, and its concern is faithfulness to the covenant once they settle in a land full of other religious practices.
Verses 1 and 2 describe the conquest, and verse 4 gives the reason for the restriction: the foreign spouse “will turn away your son from following me.” Read in that setting, verse 3 is not an expression of ethnic contempt but a safeguard for covenant loyalty. Verses 5 and 6 then state that Israel is “a holy people to the LORD your God,” which explains why its households had to be guarded from idolatry.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 7:3
2 Corinthians 6:14
Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
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Paul uses the image of mismatched yoked animals to warn believers against binding themselves to unbelievers in close partnerships. The principle echoes the concern of Deuteronomy 7:3 that a deep bond with those who reject God can pull a believer away from him.
Nehemiah 13:25
I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
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Centuries later, Nehemiah confronts Israelites who had married foreign wives and speaks sharply about the danger. His response shows that the command in Deuteronomy was still taken seriously, and that the spiritual cost of such marriages was a recurring concern for God’s people.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 7:3
Lord, you have called us to belong wholly to you, and you know how much our hearts are shaped by the people we love. Guard the homes we are building and the relationships we are entering. Give us wisdom to see where a bond may draw us away from you, and courage to choose what keeps our faith strong. Help us to love well and to seek your direction above our own preferences. Amen.
