Deuteronomy 27:23
in Deuteronomy 27‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Cursed be he that lieth with his mother-in-law. And all the people shall say, Amen.
KJV
Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 27
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife
on Deuteronomy 27:20-23
All four stand in Leviticus 18, at 18:8, 18:23, 18:9 and 18:17. Like the curses around them, each is done inside a household where no outside witness would be present.
This site's exposition
sleeps with his mother-in-law
A mother-in-law is kin by marriage only. Henry still names this incest, with the sister and the father's wife of verses 20 and 22. Leviticus 20:14 set burning as the penalty where a man took both a wife and her mother.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law,.... See Lev 18:7. All these incestuous or brutal copulations may well be supposed to be done in secret: and all the people shall say Amen; as abhorring such incest.
10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the L ORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. A general charge to the people to keep God's commandments; for in vain did they know them, unless they would do them. This is pressed upon them, 1.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָר֕וּר | ʾarur | [is] cursed | H779 → | 63 times |
| שֹׁכֵ֖ב | shokhev | [one who] lies | H7901 → | 212 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| חֹֽתַנְתּ֑וֹ | chotanto | mother-in-law his | H2859 → | |
| וְאָמַ֥ר | veamar | and it will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָעָ֖ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| אָמֵֽן׃ ס | ʾamen | amen | H543 → | 30 times |
אָר֕וּר[is] cursed
ʾarurH779 →63 times
שֹׁכֵ֖ב[one who] lies
shokhevH7901 →212 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
חֹֽתַנְתּ֑וֹmother-in-law his
chotantoH2859 →
וְאָמַ֥רand it will say
veamarH559 →5305 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָעָ֖םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
אָמֵֽן׃ סamen
ʾamenH543 →30 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
6 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 18:17You must not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sexual relations with her. They are close…
it leads to
- Leviticus 20:14
If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that there will be no depravity among you.
- Leviticus 20:14
Through
Leviticus 20:14If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that there will be no depravity among you.
it leads to
- Amos 2:7
They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 18:17
You must not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sexual relations with her. They are close…
- Joshua 7:15
The one who is caught with the things devoted to destruction must be burned, along with all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrage…
- Leviticus 21:9
If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by prostituting herself, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.
- Joshua 7:25
“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the LORD will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies.
- Amos 2:7
Where this verse is studied
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.