Deuteronomy 7:3 (ASV)

Passage

neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 7:1 When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

Deuteronomy 7:2 and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them;

Deuteronomy 7:3 neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

Deuteronomy 7:4 For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.

Deuteronomy 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "neither", "shalt", "thou", "make", "marriages", and "daughter". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "neither" and "shalt", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver..." into verse 4's "For he will turn away thy son...", so "neither" and "shalt" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "neither" and "shalt" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.