Nehemiah 13:1–3, 23–27; Deuteronomy 23:3–6; Ruth 4
"No Ammonite or Moabite" and Ruth
Nehemiah 13:1 cites Deuteronomy 23:3–6: no Ammonite or Moabite in the congregation of God for ever. The people separate the "mixed multitude," and Nehemiah condemns marriages with women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. Ruth the Moabite, ancestor of David, stands in tension with this. All the library's texts agree on the wording.
Read Nehemiah 13:1–3, 23–27; Deuteronomy 23:3–6; Ruth 4 in every edition
Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Torah
Deuteronomy 23:3 (parallel, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation
KJV.
Ruth (date debated)
Ruth 4:13, 17 (parallel, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife… he is the father of Jesse, the father of David
KJV.
Memoir c. 430 BC; book compiled c. 400–300 BC (debated)
Original Ezra–Nehemiah
No original survives. No Qumran fragment of Nehemiah has been identified.
Translated c. 2nd century BC or later
Greek 2 Esdras 11–23 (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Contains 13:1–3. Greek 2 Esdras via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָבוֹא עַמֹּנִי וּמֹאָבִי בִּקְהַל הָאֱלֹהִים עַד־עוֹלָם
that no Ammonite or Moabite should come into the assembly of God for ever
Deuteronomy has "the LORD" and "tenth generation"; Nehemiah "God" and "for ever" (Deuteronomy adds "for ever" too).
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever
What changed, and why
The rabbis harmonized Deuteronomy with Ruth by ruling that the ban applied to Moabite men, not women (Mishnah Yevamot 8:3; Talmud Yevamot 76b–77a). Nehemiah applies the law to marriage with women too. Many scholars think Ruth was written or read in this period as a counter-voice; others date Ruth earlier. Scripture preserves both.
What the evidence shows
- Nehemiah 13:1 cites Deuteronomy 23:3–6.
- Ruth was written in response to Ezra–Nehemiah.
Sources
Related lessons
- The Reforms and Their Human Costs →The law excluding Ammonites and Moabites is read, and the people separate the "mixed multitude." While Nehemiah is away at court, the high priest Eliashib gives Tobiah a temple storeroom. Returning, Nehemiah throws out Tobiah's goods, restores the Levites' portions, shuts the gates against Sabbath trade, and confronts men married to women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab, whose children cannot speak Judean. He curses them, strikes some, pulls out their hair, and drives off the high priest's grandson, son-in-law to Sanballat. The book ends: "Remember me, O my God, for good."