Bible Strands
Nehemiah 13:26
Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah addresses the returned exiles in Jerusalem immediately after rebuking them for intermarrying with foreign women. He anchors his warning in a known historical precedent to confront their current covenant violation.
The words — הֲלֹא (ha./Lo') translates literally as "is it not," framing the verse as a rhetorical question. חָטָא (cha.ta'-) means "did he sin," directly identifying Solomon’s moral failure.
The thread — The text recalls Solomon’s downfall in 1 Kings 11:1, where foreign wives turned his heart to other gods. It also echoes the warning in Ecclesiastes 7:26 regarding the snare of foreign women.
Why it lands — The passage states that even a king uniquely loved by God and unmatched among nations fell to sin through foreign alliances. It demands the reader to treat covenant boundaries as non-negotiable rather than optional compromises.
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
King James Version
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.
Cross-references
- 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.
- 1 Kings 3:13 Moreover, I will give you what you did not request—both riches and honor—so that during all your days no man in any kingdom will be your equal.
- Ecclesiastes 7:26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.
- 2 Samuel 12:24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved the child
- 2 Chronicles 1:12 therefore wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. And I will also give you riches and wealth and honor unlike anything given to the kings before you or after you.”
- 2 Chronicles 9:22 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.