An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of
the Lord
Or marry an Israelitish woman, as Jarchi, and so the Targum of Jonathan,
``the male Ammonites and Moabites are not fit to take a wife of the congregation of the Lord;''for the Jews restrain this to men, because it is, as Aben Ezra observes, an Ammonite, not an Ammonitess, a Moabite, not a Moabitess; they allow that females of those nations might be married to Israelites, that is, provided they were proselytesses, as Ruth was F13:
even to their tenth generation, shall they not enter into the
congregation of the Lord for ever;
that is, not only to the tenth generation, but for ever; and this law was understood as in force in Nehemiah's time, which was more than ten generations from the making of it; though now, as these nations are no more a distinct people, they suppose it is no longer binding F14.