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Tim Maas
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Tim Maas
The Hebrew word in this verse that is translated as "one of illegitimate birth" is the masculine noun "mamzer". It comes from root terms meaning "defect", and "strange" or "alien". Various Bible versions found on the website http://www.biblehub.com translate this word as follows:
born of a forbidden marriage;
bastard;
born due to an illicit sexual relationship;
born of a woman's adultery;
born of a prostitute (to which the Greek term ("ek pornes") used in this verse in the Septuagint (the original Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures) seems to refer);
born of incest.
As indicated in the verse, the term would also apply to the descendant of a person meeting any of the above descriptions.
This term would apply to a person born to at least one parent who was Jewish. However, if a person meeting one of these descriptions were born to non-Jewish parents, and then were later to convert to Judaism, the prohibition stated in this verse would not apply. The person would then be considered the equal of any other Jew.
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