Judges 3:6

And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The narrator records the Israelites' actions after they settled among the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite populations. This occurs during the early judges period, directly following the generation that survived the initial conquest.

The words — The Hebrew וַ/יִּקְח֨וּ (va/i.yik.Chu) means "and they took," paired with נָתְנ֣וּ (na.te.Nu) meaning "they gave," marking a reciprocal exchange. These verbs structurally frame the mutual intermarriage that bridges the two communities.

The thread — This pattern appears in Exodus 34:16, Deuteronomy 7:3, and 1 Kings 11:1. Each passage treats the blending of families as the direct mechanism for spiritual compromise.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that religious apostasy begins with social integration rather than outright rebellion. A reader must see how shared households normalize the worship of other deities.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַיִּקְח֨וּva/i.yik.Chuand/ they took אֶת־'et-<obj.>בְּנוֹתֵיהֶ֤םbe.no.tei./Hemdaughters/ theirלָהֶם֙la./Hemfor <the>/ themselvesלְנָשִׁ֔יםle./na.Shimto/ wives וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>בְּנוֹתֵיהֶ֖םbe.no.tei./Hemdaughters/ their נָתְנ֣וּna.te.Nuthey gave לִבְנֵיהֶ֑םli/v.nei./Hemto/ sons/ their וַיַּעַבְד֖וּva/i.ya.'av.Duand/ they served אֶת־'et-<obj.>אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃ פ'e.lo.hei./Hemgods/ their

King James Version

And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Cross-references

Exodus 34:16 And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.
Deuteronomy 7:3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
1 Kings 11:1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.
Ezra 9:11 that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end.
Nehemiah 13:23 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
Ezekiel 16:3 and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.