Deuteronomy 7:3 forbids the Israelites from making marriages with the surrounding nations, so that their sons and daughters would not be joined to people who worshiped other gods. The verse is part of a command Moses gave to the people of Israel as they stood on the edge of the promised land, about to enter it under the leadership of Joshua.
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 the previous verses, including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites and others living in the land. Marriage here means the joining of families through sons and daughters, which in the ancient world was a matter of alliance, property and inheritance as much as romance. Moses is forbidding the kind of family ties that would bind Israel to these nations in daily life.
The second and third sentences spell out the practical form of the ban. Israelite parents must not give their daughters to the sons of these nations, and must not take their daughters as wives for their own sons. The command runs in both directions, so that no household within Israel would form a lasting bond with a household outside the covenant. The verse does not say that every individual foreigner is worthless or beyond God’s concern. It addresses the pattern of binding families together in a way that would draw Israel’s hearts away from the LORD.
What the verse does not promise is that an outsider can never become part of God’s people. Elsewhere the Old Testament welcomes foreigners who turn to the LORD, and Ruth the Moabite is a well-known example. The concern here is with the nations who would lead Israel into idolatry, at a particular moment in Israel’s history.
The Context of Deuteronomy 7:3
Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah, presented as a series of speeches Moses gave to Israel in the plains of Moab before they crossed the Jordan River. Traditionally Moses is named as the speaker, and the book is addressed to the generation that had grown up in the wilderness. Its audience is a people about to receive a land, and the book repeatedly ties that gift to their loyalty to the LORD alone.
Verses 1 and 2 describe the conquest of seven nations, with a command to destroy them and make no covenant with them. Verse 4 gives the reason for the marriage ban: the foreign partner would turn the son or daughter away from following the LORD, and the LORD’s anger would burn against Israel. Verses 5 and 6 then tell Israel to tear down the altars and idols of these nations, and remind them that they are a holy people chosen as God’s own possession. Read this way, Deuteronomy 7:3 is a safeguard that protects the covenant relationship, and it is grounded in God’s choice of Israel rather than in any claim of ethnic superiority.
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 close partnerships with unbelievers. Like Deuteronomy 7:3, it treats close bonds as shaping a person’s walk with God. Paul applies the principle to the church, and he grounds it in the holiness of the people of God.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
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This proverb calls the reader to guard the heart with all diligence, since everything in life flows from it. Deuteronomy 7:3 protects a family’s spiritual life from outside pressure, and Proverbs points inward to the heart that must be watched. Together they show that faithfulness involves both the choices we make and the attention we give to our inner life.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 7:3
Lord, you know the relationships that shape my heart and the homes I hope to build. Give me wisdom to see which bonds will draw me closer to you and which will pull me away. Where I am tempted to choose by appearance, comfort or pressure, steady my judgment and let my decisions honor your name. Guard my children, my friendships and my family from anything that would lead them from following you. Keep my heart fixed on you, and let my life be a witness of your holiness. Amen.
