Deuteronomy 23:8

Summary

The verse states that children born to them, in the third generation, will/may enter the assembly of Yehovah. It is a rule about entry into the community assembly tied to a generational count.

Key words

• ba.Nim ("children", H1121A) — masculine plural noun, the subject group under discussion.
• yi.val.Du ("they will be born", H3205) — niphal (passive) imperfect, indicating that the children are the ones born (acted upon), not the ones generating birth; imperfect aspect points to ongoing/future occurrence.
• Dor she.li.Shi ("a generation" + "third", H1755 + H7992) — masculine singular noun with ordinal number, marking the specific generational stage referenced.
• ya.Vo' ("it will go/come", H0935G) — qal imperfect, third masculine singular, describing future/ongoing entry as a simple (non-passive) action.
• k.Hal Yehovah ("assembly of Yehovah", H6951 + H3068G) — construct noun phrase, "assembly of" placed in construct relation with the divine name, denoting the specific communal body being entered.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence has two clauses joined by a relative construction. The first clause, ba.Nim 'a.Sher-yi.val.Du la.Hem ("children who will be born to them"), uses the niphal form of yi.val.Du (H3205) to mark the children as the passive recipients of birth — the action of being born happens to them, rather than them performing it. The prepositional phrase la.Hem ("to them", H9005+H9038) specifies whose children these are.

The second clause states the timing and result: Dor she.li.Shi ya.Vo' la.Hem bi-k.Hal Yehovah — "a third generation, it will go/come to them, in the assembly of Yehovah." The verb ya.Vo' (H0935G) is qal imperfect, a straightforward (non-passive) verb describing the action of entering/coming, distinct in voice from the niphal used for "being born." The noun Dor she.li.Shi ("third generation") functions as the grammatical subject of ya.Vo', meaning literally the "third generation" is what "comes" or "arrives" at the assembly — the Hebrew phrasing centers the generation itself as the entity that arrives, rather than centering "children" as the subject of entering. The final phrase bi-k.Hal Yehovah (H9003+H6951+H3068G) uses a construct chain, "assembly of Yehovah," identifying the specific body being entered.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew subject of the verb ya.Vo' ("it will come/go", H0935G) is Dor she.li.Shi ("third generation"), making the generation itself the grammatical subject of arrival. The LXX renders the subject as plural "they" (εἰσελεύσονται, "they will enter"), with γενεᾷ τρίτῃ ("in the third generation") functioning as a dative of time rather than as the subject. The Vulgate similarly makes the "children" (via nati, "those born") the subject who "will enter" (intrabunt), with "in the third generation" (tertia generatione) as an ablative of time. Both LXX and Vulgate thus shift the grammatical subject from "generation" (as in the Hebrew) to a personal plural subject ("they"/"those born").