Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 23:3
No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembled Israelites on the plains of Moab, just before they cross the Jordan. He outlines specific exclusions from the covenant community following the earlier regulation on illegitimate birth in Deuteronomy 23:2.
The words — עַמּוֹנִ֛י (a.mo.Ni) denotes an Ammonite and דּ֣וֹר (Dor) denotes a generation, anchoring the restriction in both ethnic identity and temporal duration.
The thread — Nehemiah 13:1 cites this law during the post-exilic purification of Jerusalem, while Ruth 4:10 records Boaz taking Ruth the Moabitess as his wife, directly engaging the text’s boundary.
Why it lands — The text demands the community maintain a fixed boundary for covenant membership based on ancestral origin and historical hostility, requiring strict enforcement of separation.
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
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:
Cross-references
- 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,
- Ruth 4:6 The kinsman-redeemer replied, “I cannot redeem it myself, or I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I cannot redeem it.”
- Ruth 4:10 Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to raise up the name of the deceased through his inheritance, so that his name will not disappear from among his brothers or from the gate of his home. You are witnesses today.”
- Nehemiah 13:23 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
- 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.”
- Nehemiah 4:3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!”
- Nehemiah 4:7 When Sanballat and Tobiah, together with the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites, heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they were furious,