Deuteronomy 23:2

2 No one born of a forbidden marriage[a] nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation.

Deuteronomy 23:2 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
English Standard Version (ESV)
2 "No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD.
New Living Translation (NLT)
2 “If a person is illegitimate by birth, neither he nor his descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the LORD .
The Message Bible (MSG)
2 No bastard is to enter the congregation of God, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children.
American Standard Version (ASV)
2 A bastard shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation shall none of his enter into the assembly of Jehovah.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
2 A man born from an illicit union may not join the assembly of the LORD. No descendant of his may join the assembly of the LORD for ten generations.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
2 No one of illegitimate birth may enter the Lord's assembly; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the Lord's assembly.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
2 No one who was born to a woman who wasn't married can join in worship with the LORD's people. That also applies to the person's children for all time to come.

Deuteronomy 23:2 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 23:2

A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord,
&c.] That is born of whoredom, as the Targum of Jonathan; and for the sake of avoiding whoredom and deterring from it was this law made, according to Maimonides F8, that adulterers might see, as he observes, that they affect their whole family with an irreparable stain, should they commit such an infamous action; though the Jews commonly interpret it of one that is born of any of those incestuous copulations forbidden in ( Leviticus 18:1-30 ) which they gather from this following upon, and being near unto one of those incests mentioned in the last verse of the preceding chapter F9; and it is a rule with them F11, that persons born of such copulations were reckoned bastards; now such an one, according to Jarchi, might not marry an Israelitish woman, or rather might not be admitted into the assembly of elders, or bear any public office. Jephthah may seem to be an objection to this, who was the son of an harlot, ( Judges 11:1 ) which might be owing to the badness of the times, the laws of God being neglected, or to the providence of God so ordering it, who is not bound by his own laws, though men are; nor was he the son of a common harlot, nor of an incestuous person, but of his father's concubine; besides some think such only are intended who were born of strangers and not Israelites:

even unto his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation
of the Lord;
which seems as if he might at the eleventh; but it is generally interpreted never, as is gathered from the following verse, and from the tenth number being an absolute and perfect one; yet according to the Jewish writers there were ways and means by which their posterity became legitimate; so they say, bastards may be purified (or legitimated), how? if one marries a servant maid, the child is a servant, who if he becomes free, (his) son is a free man {l}.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Targum Jon. in loc. Misn. Yebamot, c. 8. sect. 2, 4, 5, 6. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 49.
F9 Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 3. sect. 12.
F11 Misn. Kiddushin, c. 3. sect. 12. & Misn. Yebamot, c. 4. sect. 13. Jarchi & Aben Ezra in loc.
F12 Misn. Kiddushin, c. 3. sect. 13.

Deuteronomy 23:2 In-Context

1 No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.
2 No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation.
3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation.
4 For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you.
5 However, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "one of illegitimate birth"
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