Nehemiah acted directly against those who had married foreign women, not only with words, but with a physical assault. The series of four actions here are in a progression of increasing harshness: 1) contended, 2) cursed, 3) beat, and 4) pulled out their hair. He ended by making them take an oath.

I contended with them: Contended is the same verb that is translated “remonstrated” in verses 11 and 17, with a basic meaning of making a legal accusation against someone. This is verbal action in the form of a rebuke or reprimand. The object of the verb is the Jewish men in verse 23. The translator may need to specify the object of the verb by referring to “those men who had married foreign women.”

Cursed them: This is to call for penalties according to a covenant. It is a threat that God will punish them. In Neh 10.29 the people had made a covenant to separate themselves from other peoples with the penalty of a curse if the covenant was broken. Revised English Bible translates “reviled them.”

Beat some of them: This was physical striking probably with the hands. Nehemiah says that he physically beat some of them. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says that he “flogged them,” possibly implying that Nehemiah had his servants flog some of them (similarly Contemporary English Version). Since the action here seems to be spontaneous, it is preferable to translate “beat” rather than “flog.” The Hebrew text includes the object “men among them,” which Revised English Bible translates “some of them,” while New Jerusalem Bible says “several of them.”

Pulled out their hair: This was a humiliating punishment that may possibly have been a symbolic action involving a few hairs. The text does not specify that this refers to the hair of their beards, which would have been especially humiliating (see 2 Sam 10.4-5; Isa 50.6), but this seems quite possible. In many cultures pulling out someone’s hair is an expression of outrage and violence against that person.

I made them take oath in the name of God: Made them take oath is the causative form of the verb in Hebrew. Nehemiah “made them swear by God” (New American Standard Bible) or “… in the name of God” (Revised English Bible). In the name of God means that they took God as their witness, since the name of God refers to God himself (see the comments at Ezra 5.1). If God was their witness, it is implicit that they were calling upon God to punish them if they broke their oath. New American Bible uses a formal legal expression: “I adjured them by God.” Nehemiah bound them by an oath. The oath is that referred to in Neh 10.30 (see also Deut 7.3). The text of the oath is changed from first person plural in Neh 10.30 to second person plural here to make it into a statement by Nehemiah that was addressed to the Jewish community.

You shall not give your daughters to their sons …: The Hebrew text begins with the traditional oath formula: “If you give your daughters to their sons….” This formula implies that an unstated penalty will be imposed if the promise that is being made under oath is not kept. The Hebrew formula is reinterpreted in translation into the form of a statement that represents the promise that is being made under oath. Unless translators have a similar oath formula in their own languages that can be used here, they should translate the oath as a statement.

Or for yourselves is an addition to the statement in Neh 10.30 that refers only to the sons and the daughters (see Ezra 9.2). This addition makes it clear that this oath was directed to the men.

In Revised Standard Version the quotation marks indicate that these words are a direct quotation of the words that Nehemiah addressed to the men. Good News Translation restructures to indirect speech summarizing the content of the oath that they took. Contemporary English Version and Revised English Bible restructure to put the words in the mouths of the Jews who are taking the oath as in the original vow. Translators may adopt whichever of these three models is most appropriate for the receptor language. They must be careful to indicate clearly who is doing the speaking in their rendering of this oath.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .