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Leviticus 18:20

in Leviticus 18

You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbor’s wife, to defile thyself with her.

KJV

Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.

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This verse in Leviticus 18

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
Moreover, thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife,.... Which is adultery, and a breach of the seventh command, Exo 20:14, to defile thyself with her; not only adultery is a defiling a man's wife, as it is sometimes called, but the adulterer defiles himself: all sin is of a defiling nature, but especially this, which defiles a man both in soul and body, and brings a blot and stain upon his character, which shall not be wiped off, Pro 6:32.

This site's exposition

Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman

on Leviticus 18:19-20

Verse 19 turns the law on a man and his own wife during the separation of Leviticus 15:19, and verse 20 turns it on his neighbour's wife. Ezekiel 22:10 and 22:11 arraign Jerusalem with these two offences standing side by side, and Ezekiel 18:6 puts both of them in a list of what a just man leaves alone. A prophet writing centuries later is reading this chapter as a charge sheet.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Thy neighbor’s wife - See Clarke’s note on Exo 20:14.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְאֶל־and to

    veel-H413 →5510 times

  • אֵ֙שֶׁת֙[the] wife of

    ʾeshetH802 →781 times

  • עֲמִֽיתְךָ֔fellow citizen your

    ʾamitekhaH5997 →12 times

  • לֹא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • תִתֵּ֥ןyou will give

    titenH5414 →2011 times

  • שְׁכָבְתְּךָ֖copulation your

    shekhavetekhaH7903 →4 times

  • לְזָ֑רַעfor seed

    lezara'H2233 →229 times

  • לְטָמְאָה־to be unclean

    letameah-H2930 →162 times

  • בָֽהּ׃by <the> her

    vah

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

17 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Exodus 20:14You shall not commit adultery.8 worksNumbers 5:13by sleeping with another man, and it is concealed from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act),7 works1 Corinthians 6:9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,4 worksHebrews 13:4Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.4 worksMatthew 5:27–28You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’4 worksLeviticus 20:10If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.4 works
The other 11 cross-references, with their words ▾
Proverbs 6:25Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.3 worksDeuteronomy 5:18You shall not commit adultery.3 works2 Samuel 11:3–4So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”3 worksEzekiel 22:11One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.3 works2 Samuel 11:27And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.2 worksRomans 2:22You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?2 worksMalachi 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.2 worksGalatians 5:19The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;2 worksDeuteronomy 22:22If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.2 worksProverbs 6:29–33So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.2 worksDeuteronomy 22:25But if the man encounters a betrothed woman in the open country, and he overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who has done this must die.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Hebrews 13:4

    Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 2:24

      For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 6:9

    Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…

    it leads to

    • 1 Timothy 1:9–10

      We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers,

    • Galatians 5:19–21

      The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

    • Ephesians 5:4–5

      Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.

    • Leviticus 20:13

      If a man lies with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

    • Leviticus 18:22

      You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.

  • Through

    Exodus 20:14

    You shall not commit adultery.

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 13:4

      Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

    • Deuteronomy 5:18

      You shall not commit adultery.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Leviticus

Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Leviticus: the study guide →Read Leviticus 18 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Leviticus 18 →