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Deuteronomy 23:1

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Purity in Public Worship

23:1A man with crushed1 or severed genitals2 may not enter the assembly of the Lord.3

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (, , ); “who has been castrated.”
  2. 2 Heb “cut off with respect to the penis”; , “hath his privy member cut off”; English versions vary in their degree of euphemism here; cf. , , , “penis”; “male organ”; “sex organ”; “private parts”; “emasculated by crushing or cutting.”
  3. 3 The Hebrew term translated “assembly” (קָהָל, qahal) does not refer here to the nation as such but to the formal services of the tabernacle or temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may enter the Lord’s assembly.

NLTNew Living Translation

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

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“No man with crushed testicles or whose male organ is cut off may come into the assembly of Yahweh.

KJV 1900King 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.