Deuteronomy 23:1
in Deuteronomy 23No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah.
KJV
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 23
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Compare Lev 21:17-24. Such persons, exhibiting a mutilation of that human nature which was made in God’s image, were rejected from the covenant entirely. However, they could be proselytes (compare Act 8:27). The Old Testament itself foretells Isa 56:3-5 the removal of this ban when under the kingdom of Messiah the outward and emblematic perfection and sanctity of Israel should be fulfilled in their inner meaning by the covenanted presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the Church.
This site's exposition
He that is wounded in the stones
on Deuteronomy 23:1-2
The chapter opens on who is shut out, and what being shut out means is disputed, since Barnes reads the bar as one on naturalization and public office rather than on living in the land, and Henry says plainly that interpreters are not agreed. The word rendered bastard is mamzer, which Clarke takes of the child of an incestuous or forbidden union rather than of any child born outside marriage. Isaiah 56:3-5 answers verse 1 by name, promising the eunuch who takes hold of the covenant a place and a name in God's house better than of sons and of daughters. Acts 8:27 has an Ethiopian eunuch on the road home from Jerusalem with the scroll of Isaiah open in front of him.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
1, 2 ), yet was not a bastard in the sense of this law. And as for the eunuchs, though by this law they seemed to be cast out of the vineyard as dry trees, which they complain of ( Isa. lvi. 3 ), yet it is here promised (
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He that is wounded in the stones,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
He that is wounded . . ., shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord--"To enter into the congregation of the Lord" means either admission to public honors and offices in the Church and State of Israel, or, in the case of foreigners, incorporation with that nation by marriage.
Shall not enter into the congregation, etc. - If by entering the congregation be meant the bearing a civil office among the people, such as magistrate, judge, etc., then the reason of the law is very plain; no man with any such personal defect as might render him contemptible in the sight of others should bear rule among the people, lest the contempt felt for his personal defects might be transferred to his important office, and thus his authority be disregarded. The general meaning of these words is, simply, that the persons here designated should not be so incorporated with the Jews as to partake of their civil privileges.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
A man may not marry his father’s wife, and may not expose the edge of his father’s garment.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָבֹ֧א | yavo' | he will go | H935 → | 2568 times |
| פְצֽוּעַ־ | fetzua'- | [one who] is wounded of | H6481 → | |
| דַּכָּ֛א | daka' | crushing | H1795 → | |
| וּכְר֥וּת | ukherut | and [one who] is cut off of | H3772 → | 288 times |
| שָׁפְכָ֖ה | shafekhah | penis | H8212 → | |
| בִּקְהַ֥ל | bikhal | in [the] assembly of | H6951 → | 123 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ ס | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָבֹ֧אhe will go
yavo'H935 →2568 times
פְצֽוּעַ־[one who] is wounded of
fetzua'-H6481 →
דַּכָּ֛אcrushing
daka'H1795 →
וּכְר֥וּתand [one who] is cut off of
ukherutH3772 →288 times
שָׁפְכָ֖הpenis
shafekhahH8212 →
בִּקְהַ֥לin [the] assembly of
bikhalH6951 →123 times
יְהוָֽה׃ סYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Galatians 3:28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 12:12–13
The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.
- Colossians 3:11
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
- Romans 3:29–30
Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
- Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.
- Romans 10:12–15
For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him,
- 1 Corinthians 12:12–13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.