Deuteronomy 23:3
in Deuteronomy 23No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of Jehovah for ever:
KJV
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever:
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This verse in Deuteronomy 23
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
This law forbids only the naturalization of those against whom it is directed. It does not forbid their dwelling in the land; and seems to refer rather to the nations than to individuals. It was not understood at any rate to interdict marriage with a Moabitess; compare Rth 1:4; Rth 4:13. Ruth however, and her sister were doubtless proselytes. Deu 23:4 Compare the marginal reference. The Moabites and the Ammonites are to be regarded as clans of the same stock rather than as two independent nations, and as acting together. Compare 2Ch 20:1.
This site's exposition
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter
on Deuteronomy 23:3-6
The charge against Moab and Ammon is two things done on the road out of Egypt, no bread and water offered and Balaam hired to curse, which Numbers 22 to 24 tells at length. Verse 5 says the Lord turned the curse into a blessing because he loved thee, and Nehemiah 13:1-2 quotes that whole charge back, the turned curse included, on the day the book of Moses is read aloud in Jerusalem. Deuteronomy 2:29 says the Moabites who dwelt in Ar sold Israel food on that same road, both verses stand in the book, and Keil reads the charge here as the conduct of the nation rather than of every man in it. Ruth the Moabitess is the case a reader sets against verse 3, since Ruth 4:17 makes her the great-grandmother of David and Matthew 1:5 names her in the line of Christ, and the readings offered are that the law bars naturalization rather than marriage, which is where Barnes lands, or that the Hebrew is masculine and reaches the men of Moab only, or that Ruth came in as a proselyte.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Upon Ammonites and Moabites, the posterity of Lot, who, for his outward convenience, had separated himself from Abraham, Gen. xiii. And we do not find that he or his ever joined themselves again to the children of the covenant. They are here cut off to the tenth generation, that is, (as some think it is explained), for ever.
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord,....
The Nineteenth Century3 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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
even to the their tenth generation shall they not enter--Many eminent writers think that this law of exclusion was applicable only to males; at all events that a definite is used for an indefinite number (Ne 13:1;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
An Ammonite or Moabite - These nations were subjected for their impiety and wickedness, (see Deu 23:4 and Deu 23:5), to peculiar disgrace, and on this account were not permitted to hold any office among the Israelites. But this did not disqualify them from being proselytes: Ruth, who was a Moabitess, was married to Boaz, and she became one of the progenitors of our Lord. Even to their tenth generation - That is, for ever, as the next clause explains; see Neh 13:1.
The words behind it
16 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 |
| עַמּוֹנִ֛י | amoni | an Ammonite | H5984 → | |
| וּמוֹאָבִ֖י | umoavi | and a Moabite | H4125 → | 16 times |
| בִּקְהַ֣ל | bikhal | in [the] assembly of | H6951 → | 123 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| גַּ֚ם | gam | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| דּ֣וֹר | dor | a generation | H1755 → | 167 times |
| עֲשִׂירִ֔י | ʾasiri | tenth | H6224 → | |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָבֹ֥א | yavo' | it will go | H935 → | 2568 times |
| לָהֶ֛ם | lahem | of <the> them | ||
| בִּקְהַ֥ל | bikhal | in [the] assembly of | H6951 → | 123 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| עוֹלָֽם׃ | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָבֹ֧אhe will go
yavo'H935 →2568 times
עַמּוֹנִ֛יan Ammonite
amoniH5984 →
וּמוֹאָבִ֖יand a Moabite
umoaviH4125 →16 times
בִּקְהַ֣לin [the] assembly of
bikhalH6951 →123 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
גַּ֚םalso
gamH1571 →769 times
דּ֣וֹרa generation
dorH1755 →167 times
עֲשִׂירִ֔יtenth
ʾasiriH6224 →
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָבֹ֥אit will go
yavo'H935 →2568 times
לָהֶ֛םof <the> them
lahem
בִּקְהַ֥לin [the] assembly of
bikhalH6951 →123 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
עוֹלָֽם׃perpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Isaiah 56:3Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will utterly exclude me from His people.” And let the eunuch not say, “I am but a dry tree.”
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:17
But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.
- Acts 10:34
Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,
- Matthew 19:12–30
For there are eunuchs who were born that way; others were made that way by men; and still others live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can…
- Jeremiah 50:5
They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.
- Romans 2:10–11
but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Greek.
- 1 Corinthians 6:17
Through
Nehemiah 13:23In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
it leads to
- Ezra 9:1–2
After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like…
- Nehemiah 10:30
We will not give our daughters in marriage to the people of the land, and we will not take their daughters for our sons.
- Ezra 10:10
Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women, adding to the guilt of Israel.
- Ezra 9:1–2
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); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
