Deuteronomy 7:4

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

Ver. 4. For they will turn away thy son.] As the foreign women did Solomon. {1Ki 11:2-4} What is the reason the Pope will not dispense in Spain or Italy, if a Papist marry a Protestant, yet here they will, but in hope to draw more to them? The tyrant Mezentius tied the living bodies of his captives to the dead; but the dead did not revive by the living, the living rather putrified by the dead. {a}

{a} Corpora corporibus iungebat mortua vivis. - Virgil.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 7:4. To serve other gods — That is, there is manifest danger of apostacy and idolatry from such matches. Which reason doth both limit the prohibition to such of these as were unconverted, (otherwise Salmon married Rachab, Mat 1:5,) and also enlarges it to other idolatrous nations, as appears from 1Ki 11:2; Ezr 9:2; Neh 13:23.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, any of them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

4. turn away thy son from following me] Expressed differently in Exo_34:16 b but to the same effect, that the influence of the foreign wife on her Israelite husband will be to lead him into idolatry. From after me (lit.): as the speaker is Moses, the me has been taken to be due to abbreviation of the divine name, and Jehovah is read; but in that case we should have had Jehovah thy God. Therefore retain me and take this as an instance, occurring again in Deu_17:3, Deu_28:20, Deu_29:5 (4), and frequent in the discourses of the prophets, of the merging of the speaker’s personality in that of the Deity, for whom he speaks.

against you] Transition for the moment to the Pl. (confirmed by Sam. and LXX). It is impossible to say whether this is original or an editorial addition.

quickly] Deu_4:26.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For they will turn away thy son from following me,.... From the pure worship of God, his word, statutes, and ordinances:

that they may serve other gods; worship their idols; that is, the daughters of Heathens, married to the sons of Israelites, would entice them from the worship of the true God to idolatry; so the Targum of Jonathan; as Solomon's wives drew him aside: or "he will turn away thy son" (d); meaning, as Jarchi observes, that the son of an Heathen, that marries the daughter of an Israelite, will turn away the son born of her to idolatry, called here the grandfather's son; though Aben Ezra says this respects the son mentioned in the preceding verse, that is, the son married to an Heathen woman, and not to a son born in such marriage:

so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly; by some immediate judgment striking dead at once; there being nothing more provoking to God than idolatry, that being directly contrary to his being, nature, perfections, honour, and glory, of which he is jealous.

(d) "faciet recedere": Pagninus, Montanus; so Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Tigurine version, Vatablus, V. L. all in the singular number.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Gods. So great is the natural tendency to evil, that though a woman be generally inclined to follow the inclinations and religion of her husband, yet, when his method of living is more repugnant to flesh and blood, she is but to apt to influence him to glide smoothly with her down the hill of pleasure, into the very abyss of dissolution. The prediction, she will turn, &c., is so often verified, that those who marry with unbelievers ought to tremble. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e. There is manifest danger of apostacy and idolatry from such matches; which reason doth both limit the law to such of these as were unconverted, otherwise Salmon married Rahab, Mat 1:5, and enlarge it to other idolatrous nations, as appears from 1Ki 11:2; Ezr 9:2; Neh 13:23.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

From following me; literally, from after me, i.e. from being my servant and worshipper. Suddenly; rather, speedily (rhem, infin., of rhm; to be quick, to hasten, used as an adverb).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To serve other Gods - That is, there is manifest danger of apostacy and idolatry from such matches. Which reason doth both limit the law to such of these as are unconverted (otherwise Salmon married Rahab, Matt. i, 5) and enlarge it to other idolatrous nations, as appears from 1 Kings xi, 2 Ezra ix, 2 Neh. xiii, 23.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Moses continues to tell the people of Israel Yahweh's words as if the Israelites are one person. (See: Forms of You)

For they will

"If you allow your children to marry the people from the other nations, the people from the other nations will"

So the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you

Moses compares Yahweh's anger to someone starting a fire. This emphasizes Yahweh's power to destroy what makes him angry. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Yahweh will kindle his anger against you" or "Then Yahweh will become very angry with you" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)

against you

The word "you" refers to all the Israelites and so is plural. (See: Forms of You)

you will deal ... You will break ... dash ... cut ... burn

Moses is speaking to all the Israelites here, so these words are all plural. (See: Forms of You)

translationWords

turn

son

worship

false god

anger

Yahweh

altar

column

Asherah

image

false god

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

כי יסיר את בנך מאחרי FOR HE WILL TURN AWAY THY SON FROM FOLLOWING ME — i.e., the son of the heathen when he marries thy daughter, will turn away thy son (grandson) whom thy daughter will bear unto him from following Me. This teaches us, that thy daughter's son who is born of a heathen is termed thy son, but thy son’s son, who is born of a heathen woman, is not termed thy son, but her son, for, you see, in regard to the statement: “his daughter thou shalt not take [to thy son]" it does not add “For she will turn away thy son (grandson) from following Me" (Yevamot 23a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.