Deuteronomy 23:3

3 Ammonites and Moabites, yea after the tenth generation, shall not enter into the church of the Lord (into) without end; (The Ammonites and the Moabites, even after the tenth generation, shall not be part of the Lord's congregation, yea, forevermore;)

Deuteronomy 23:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 23:3

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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F13 Misn. Yebamot, c. 8. sect. 3.
F14 Misn. Yadaim, c. 4. sect. 4.

Deuteronomy 23:3 In-Context

1 A gelding when his stones be broken, either cut away, and his rod cut off, he shall not enter into the church of the Lord. (When a man is made a gelding, or a eunuch, that is, if his stones, or his ballocks, be broken, or cut off, or if his rod is cut off, he shall no longer be part of the Lord's congregation.)

2 A child born of whoredom shall not enter into the church of the Lord, unto the tenth generation.

3 Ammonites and Moabites, yea after the tenth generation, shall not enter into the church of the Lord (into) without end; (The Ammonites and the Moabites, even after the tenth generation, shall not be part of the Lord's congregation, yea, forevermore;)

4 for they would not come to you with bread and water in the way, when ye went out of Egypt; and for they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor, of Mesopotamia of Syria, that he should curse thee; (because they would not come to you with bread and water on the way, when ye went out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor, from Pethor in Mesopotamia, to curse thee;

5 and thy Lord God would not hear Balaam (but the Lord thy God would not listen to Balaam), and God turned his curse into thy blessing, for he loved thee.