Deuteronomy 23:3

3 “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the LORD .

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Deuteronomy 23:3 In-Context

1 “If a man’s testicles are crushed or his penis is cut off, he may not be admitted to the assembly of the LORD .

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 .

3 “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the LORD .

4 These nations did not welcome you with food and water when you came out of Egypt. Instead, they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in distant Aram-naharaim to curse you.

5 But the LORD your God refused to listen to Balaam. He turned the intended curse into a blessing because the LORD your God loves you.