King James Version

Nehemiah 13:25

And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

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Hebrew

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וָאָרִ֤יבvaarivand adversaryרִיבconjunction, verb, qal, sequential imperfect, 1st person, common, singular — “and adversary”, the next action in the storyH7378properly, to toss, i.e. grapple; mostly figuratively, to wrangle, i.e. hold a controversy; (by implication) to defendadversary, chide, complain, contend, debate, [idiom] ever, [idiom] lay wait, plead, rebuke, strive, [idiom] thoroughly.עִמָּם֙imamwithעִםpreposition, suffix, pronominal, 3rd person, masculine, plural — “with”H5973adverb or preposition, with (i.e. in conjunction with), in varied applications; specifically, equally with; often with prepositional prefix (and then usually unrepresented in English)accompanying, against, and, as ([idiom] long as), before, beside, by (reason of), for all, from (among, between), in, like, more than, of, (un-) to, with(-al).וָאֲקַֽלְלֵ֔םvaaqallemand make brightקָלַלconjunction, verb, piel, sequential imperfect, 1st person, common, singular, suffix, pronominal, 3rd person, masculine, plural — “and make bright”, the next action in the storyH7043to be (causatively, make) light, literally (swift, small, sharp, etc.) or figuratively (easy, trifling, vile, etc.)abate, make bright, bring into contempt, (ac-) curse, despise, (be) ease(-y, -ier), (be a, make, make somewhat, move, seem a, set) light(-en, -er, -ly, -ly afflict, -ly esteem, thing), [idiom] slight(-ly), be swift(-er), (be, be more, make…וָאַכֶּ֥הvaakehand strikeנָכָהconjunction, verb, hiphil, sequential imperfect, 1st person, common, singular — “and strike”, the next action in the storyH5221to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)beat, cast forth, clap, give (wounds), [idiom] go forward, [idiom] indeed, kill, make (slaughter), murderer, punish, slaughter, slay(-er, -ing), smite(-r, -ing), strike, be stricken, (give) stripes, [idiom] surely, wound.מֵהֶ֛םmehemfromמֵהֶ֛םpreposition, suffix, pronominal, 3rd person, masculine, plural — “from”fromאֲנָשִׁ֖יםanashima certainאִישׁnoun, common, masculine, plural, absolute — “a certain”, the ordinary formH376a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation)also, another, any (man), a certain, [phrase] champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-) man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), [phrase] none, one, people, person, [phra…וָֽאֶמְרְטֵ֑םvaemretemand brightמָרַטconjunction, verb, qal, sequential imperfect, 1st person, common, singular, suffix, pronominal, 3rd person, masculine, plural — “and bright”, the next action in the storyH4803to polish; by implication, to make bald (the head), to gall (the shoulder); also, to sharpenbright, furbish, (have his) hair (be) fallen off, peeled, pluck off (hair).וָאַשְׁבִּיעֵ֣םvaashbiemand swearשָׁבַעconjunction, verb, hiphil, sequential imperfect, 1st person, common, singular, suffix, pronominal, 3rd person, masculine, plural — “and swear”, the next action in the storyH7650to seven oneself, i.e. swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times)adjure, charge (by an oath, with an oath), feed to the full (by mistake for H7646 (שָׂבַע)), take an oath, [idiom] straitly, (cause to, make to) swear.בֵּֽאלֹהִ֗יםbelohimin Godאֱלֹהִיםpreposition, noun, common, masculine, plural, absolute — “in God”, the ordinary formH430gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlativeangels, [idiom] exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), [idiom] (very) great, judges, [idiom] mighty.אִםimoh thatאִםconjunction — “oh that”H518used very widely as demonstrative, lo!; interrogative, whether?; or conditional, if, although; also Oh that!, when; hence, as a negative, not(and, can-, doubtless, if, that) (not), [phrase] but, either, [phrase] except, [phrase] more(-over if, than), neither, nevertheless, nor, oh that, or, [phrase] save (only, -ing), seeing, since, sith, [phrase] surely (no more, none, not), t…תִּתְּנ֤וּtitnvgiveנָתַןverb, qal, imperfect, 2nd person, masculine, plural — “give”, an unfinished actionH5414to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, [idiom] avenge, [idiom] be (healed), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider, count, [phrase] cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, [idiom] doubtless, [idiom] wi…בְנֹֽתֵיכֶם֙venoteykhemdaughterבַּתnoun, common, feminine, plural, construct, suffix, pronominal, 2nd person, masculine, plural — “daughter”, the of-form, joined to the next wordH1323a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)apple (of the eye), branch, company, daughter, [idiom] first, [idiom] old, [phrase] owl, town, village.לִבְנֵיהֶ֔םlivneyhemto sonבֵּןpreposition, noun, common, masculine, plural, construct, suffix, pronominal, 3rd person, masculine, plural — “to son”, the of-form, joined to the next wordH1121a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)[phrase] afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-) ite, (anoint-) ed one, appointed to, ([phrase]) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-) ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, [phrase] (young) bullock, [phrase] (young) calf, […וְאִםveimand oh thatאִםconjunction, conjunction — “and oh that”H518used very widely as demonstrative, lo!; interrogative, whether?; or conditional, if, although; also Oh that!, when; hence, as a negative, not(and, can-, doubtless, if, that) (not), [phrase] but, either, [phrase] except, [phrase] more(-over if, than), neither, nevertheless, nor, oh that, or, [phrase] save (only, -ing), seeing, since, sith, [phrase] surely (no more, none, not), t…תִּשְׂאוּ֙tisvlift upנָשָׂאverb, qal, imperfect, 2nd person, masculine, plural — “lift up”, an unfinished actionH5375to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeaccept, advance, arise, (able to, (armor), suffer to) bear(-er, up), bring (forth), burn, carry (away), cast, contain, desire, ease, exact, exalt (self), extol, fetch, forgive, furnish, further, give, go on, help, high, hold up, honorable…מִבְּנֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔םmibnoteyhemfrom daughterבַּתpreposition, noun, common, feminine, plural, construct, suffix, pronominal, 3rd person, masculine, plural — “from daughter”, the of-form, joined to the next wordH1323a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)apple (of the eye), branch, company, daughter, [idiom] first, [idiom] old, [phrase] owl, town, village.לִבְנֵיכֶ֖םlivneykhemto sonבֵּןpreposition, noun, common, masculine, plural, construct, suffix, pronominal, 2nd person, masculine, plural — “to son”, the of-form, joined to the next wordH1121a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)[phrase] afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-) ite, (anoint-) ed one, appointed to, ([phrase]) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-) ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, [phrase] (young) bullock, [phrase] (young) calf, […וְלָכֶֽםvelakhemand toוְלָכֶֽםconjunction, preposition, suffix, pronominal, 2nd person, masculine, plural — “and to”and to

Jewish translation (JPS 1917)

And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God: 'Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.

Compare Public-Domain Translations

The King James Version remains the text of this page and the canonical URL.

American Standard Version (1901)

And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying , Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.

Young’s Literal Translation

And I strive with them, and declare them vile, and smite certain of them, and pluck off their hair, and cause them to swear by God, 'Ye do not give your daughters to their sons, nor do ye take of their daughters to your sons, and to yourselves.

World English Bible

I contended with them, cursed them, struck certain of them, 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.

Darby Translation

And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair, and adjured them by God [saying], Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

Douay-Rheims

And I chid them, and laid my curse upon them. And I beat some of them, and shaved off their hair, and made them swear by God that they would not give their daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for their sons, nor for themselves, saying:

Jewish Publication Society (1917)

Brenton’s Septuagint (1851), English

And I strove with them and cursed them; and I smote some of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, and ye shall not take of their daughters to your sons.