Leviticus 18:8
in Leviticus 18You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover; it is thy father’s nakedness.
KJV
The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.
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This verse in Leviticus 18
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
None of you shall approach
on Leviticus 18:6-8
Verse 6 is the heading and everything through verse 18 works it out. The Hebrew behind near of kin is she'er besaro, the remnant of his flesh, so the stated ground of the law is shared flesh rather than shared descent. The Babylonian Talmud, which reached its form around 500 AD, records at Megillah 31a that this chapter is the synagogue reading for the afternoon of the Day of Atonement, which puts the list of forbidden relations on the one day of the year the nation is cleansed.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Compare the case of Reuben, Gen 49:3-4. See 1Co 5:1.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֶרְוַ֥ת | ʾervat | [the] nakedness of | H6172 → | 54 times |
| אֵֽשֶׁת־ | ʾeshet- | [the] wife of | H802 → | 781 times |
| אָבִ֖יךָ | ʾavikha | father your | H1 → | 1212 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְגַלֵּ֑ה | tegaleh | you will uncover | H1540 → | 186 times |
| עֶרְוַ֥ת | ʾervat | [is] [the] nakedness of | H6172 → | 54 times |
| אָבִ֖יךָ | ʾavikha | father your | H1 → | 1212 times |
| הִֽוא׃ ס | hi' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
עֶרְוַ֥ת[the] nakedness of
ʾervatH6172 →54 times
אֵֽשֶׁת־[the] wife of
ʾeshet-H802 →781 times
אָבִ֖יךָfather your
ʾavikhaH1 →1212 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תְגַלֵּ֑הyou will uncover
tegalehH1540 →186 times
עֶרְוַ֥ת[is] [the] nakedness of
ʾervatH6172 →54 times
אָבִ֖יךָfather your
ʾavikhaH1 →1212 times
הִֽוא׃ סit
hi'H1931 →1879 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Deuteronomy 22:30A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:20
‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 5:1
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 20:11
If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 27:20
Through
1 Corinthians 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:8
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
- Revelation 2:21
Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.
- Colossians 3:5
Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
- Ephesians 5:3
But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.
- Galatians 5:19
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Revelation 21:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Leviticus

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).
