2 And David said, “I will deal loyally¹ with Hanun the son of ^tNahash, as his father dealt loyally with me.” So David sent by his servants to console him concerning his father. And David’s servants came into the land of the Ammonites.

David Defeats Ammon and Syria

1 ^sAfter this the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place.

Saul Defeats the Ammonites

1 ^oThen Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged ^pJabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, ^q“Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”

3 ^k“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, 4 ^lbecause they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they ^mhired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ⁿMesopotamia, to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the Lord your God turned ^othe curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you. 6 You ^pshall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.

Those Excluded from the Assembly

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

3 And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay¹ with you, till I know what God will do for me.” 4 And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

3 ^qTobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—^sif a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 ^tHear, O our God, for we are despised. ^uTurn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 ^vDo not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

7 ¹ But when ^qSanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.

Nehemiah’s Final Reforms

1 On that day ^rthey read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written ^sthat no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, 2 for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 As soon as the people heard the law, ^tthey separated from Israel all ^uthose of foreign descent.