^23:3An Ammonite or Moabite⁶ may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever⁷ do so,⁸^23:4for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired⁹ Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. ^23:5But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed¹⁰ the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves¹¹ you.

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Footnotes

6 An Ammonite or Moabite. These descendants of Lot by his two daughters (cf. Gen 19:30–38) were thereby the products of incest and therefore excluded from the worshiping community. However, these two nations also failed to show proper hospitality to Israel on their way to Canaan (v. 4).
7 The Hebrew term translated “ever” (עַד־עוֹלָם, ’ad-’olam) suggests that “tenth generation” (vv. 2, 3) also means “forever.” However, in the OT sense “forever” means not “for eternity” but for an indeterminate future time. See A. Tomasino, 3:.
8 Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
9 Heb “hired against you.”
10 Heb “the Lord your God changed.” The phrase “the Lord your God” has not been included in the translation here for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy. Moreover, use of the pronoun “he” could create confusion regarding the referent (the Lord or Balaam).
11 The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”) here and commonly elsewhere in the Book of Deuteronomy speaks of God’s elective grace toward Israel. See note on the word “loved” in .

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the Lord’s assembly; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the Lord’s assembly. This is because they did not meet you with food and water on the journey after you came out of Egypt, and because Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim was hired to curse you. Yet the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but he turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you.

NLTNew Living Translation

“No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. These nations did not welcome you with food and water when you came out of Egypt. Instead, they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in distant Aram-naharaim to curse you. But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam. He turned the intended curse into a blessing because the Lord your God loves you.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

An Ammonite or a Moabite may not come into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants may come into the assembly of Yahweh forever, because they did not come to meet you with food and with water when you came out of Egypt, and also because they hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Pethor, in Aram Naharaim to act against you to curse you. But Yahweh your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, and Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you.

KJV 1900King 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: Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee.

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