John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 3. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord , etc.] Or marry an Israelitish woman, as Jarchi, and so the Targum of Jonathan, “the male Ammonites and Moabites are not fit to take a wife of the congregation of the Lord;” for the Jews restrain this to men, because it is, as Aben Ezra observes, an Ammonite, not an Ammonitess, a Moabite, not a Moabitess; they allow that females of those nations might be married to Israelites, that is, provided they were proselytesses, as Ruth was f387 : even to their tenth generation, shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever ; that is, not only to the tenth generation, but for ever; and this law was understood as in force in Nehemiah’s time, which was more than ten generations from the making of it; though now, as these nations are no more a distinct people, they suppose it is no longer binding f388 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-8 - We ought to value the privileges of God's people, both for ourselve and for our children, above all other advantages. No persona blemishes, no crimes of our forefathers, no difference of nation, shut us out under the Christian dispensation. But an unsound heart wil deprive us of blessings; and a bad example, or an unsuitable marriage may shut our children from them.
Original Hebrew לא3808 יבא935 עמוני5984 ומואבי4125 בקהל6951 יהוה3068 גם1571 דור1755 עשׂירי6224 לא3808 יבא935 להם1992 בקהל6951 יהוה3068 עד5704 עולם׃5769
