Deuteronomy 7:3 forbids the Israelites from forming marriage ties with the nations living in the land they were about to enter. Moses tells them not to give their daughters to those peoples’ sons or take their daughters as wives for their own sons. The command was given to the whole nation as they stood on the edge of Canaan, spoken by Moses in his farewell addresses to the people of Israel.
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 uses two parallel sentences, one about giving a daughter away and one about taking a daughter in. Both point the same direction: no marriage alliances should be formed between Israelite families and the peoples of Canaan. The wording is blunt because the concern is practical and spiritual at once, and the command is aimed at the community as a whole, not only at individual choices.
The reason is stated in the verse that follows. Marriage would draw the Israelites’ hearts away from the LORD toward other gods. The verse does not promise that every mixed marriage ends in disaster, and it does not describe the situation of later generations or outsiders who later joined Israel. It addresses a specific moment: a nation about to settle among peoples whose religion was tightly bound to family and household life.
The Context of Deuteronomy 7:3
Deuteronomy presents itself as Moses’ speeches to Israel on the plains of Moab, shortly before they cross the Jordan. Tradition ascribes the book to Moses, though many scholars date its final form later. Its audience is the generation that came out of Egypt’s wilderness years and is now preparing to take the land, so the instructions are meant to shape a people who will soon live among neighbors with very different customs.
The verse sits within a passage about the seven nations of Canaan. Verses 1 and 2 describe the LORD driving those nations out and the strict instructions for dealing with them, and verses 4 through 6 explain that Israel’s distinct, holy identity is at stake. Reading verse 3 inside that frame shows that the prohibition is about covenant loyalty and worship, not ethnic pride. Israel is a people set apart for the LORD, and the marriage rule protects that set-apartness.
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 an unequal yoke to warn believers against binding themselves closely to unbelievers. Like Deuteronomy 7:3, it treats close partnership as something that shapes spiritual direction, and it applies that concern to the whole of Christian life.
1 Corinthians 7:39
A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord.
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Paul advises that a widow may remarry, but only in the Lord. The principle that a marriage should be bound to faithfulness to God echoes the concern of Deuteronomy 7:3, showing that the New Testament keeps the same priority on shared devotion.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 7:3
Lord, you know the relationships I am building and the choices I face about who I give my heart to. Help me weigh every close bond by whether it draws me nearer to you or pulls me away. Give me wisdom to listen to trusted believers and courage to act on what I learn. Keep my family and my friendships anchored in your truth, and let my loyalty to you be the first thing others see in me. Amen.
