In those days. i.e. "About this same time." Compare Nehemiah 13:15. Saw I Jews. Rather, "looked I after the Jews." There is a reference to the first three verses of the present chapter, which had introduced the subject of the mixed marriages.
Nehemiah wishes to put on record the part which he had taken in the matter, and begins by observing that it had not escaped him—he had had his eye on the transgressors, and had noted their misconduct, and the evils whereto it led.
Wives of Ashdod. Philistine wives, of a race always hostile to Israel, and natives of a city which had recently taken part with Nehemiah's bitter enemies (Nehemiah 4:7). Of Ammon and of Moab. Compare Ezra 9:1, and Nehemiah 13:1.