Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 23:1
No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembled Israelites on the plains of Moab, delivering covenant regulations before the conquest of Canaan begins.
The words — פְצֽוּעַ (pe.tzu.a') means "wounded" and שָׁפְכָ֖ה (sha.fe.Khah) means "penis," combining to specify the exact physical condition that triggers the restriction.
The thread — Leviticus 21:17 applies similar physical restrictions to the Aaronic priesthood, while Isaiah 56:3 and Galatians 3:28 later address the inclusion of foreigners and the dissolution of ethnic and social divisions.
Why it lands — The text explicitly bars a specific physical condition from the assembly, requiring readers to observe how the Bible defines worship eligibility before tracking how later passages expand or recontextualize those boundaries.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.
Cross-references
- Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
- Isaiah 56:3 Let 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.”
- Leviticus 21:17 “Say to Aaron, ‘For the generations to come, none of your descendants who has a physical defect may approach to offer the food of his God.
- Deuteronomy 23:2 No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the LORD, nor may any of his descendants, even to the tenth generation.
- Nehemiah 13:1 At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
- Leviticus 22:22 You are not to present to the LORD any animal that is blind, injured, or maimed, or anything with a running sore, a festering rash, or a scab; you must not put any of these on the altar as a food offering to the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 23:8 The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.
- Lamentations 1:10 The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.