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Leviticus 20:11

in Leviticus 20

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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

KJV

And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

This verse in Leviticus 20

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

If a man lies with his father’s wife

on Leviticus 20:11-13

Three offenses from chapter 18 receive the same sentence and the same closing words, "their blood is upon them". The formula lays the guilt of the execution on the offender, and the court that carries it out bears none.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

22 ) if this law had been then made. It was the sin of the incestuous Corinthian, for which he was to be delivered unto Satan, 1 Cor. v. 1, 5 . A man's debauching his daughter-in-law, or his mother-in-law, or his sister, was likewise to be punished with death,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens

And the man that lieth with his father's wife,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

ואיש AND THE MAN [THAT COMMITTETH ADULERY SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH] — a man, thus excluding a minor (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 10 8).
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Leviticus 20:10:1, via Sefaria, Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

14 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.

  • וְאִ֗ישׁand a man

    veishH376 →1663 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֤רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • יִשְׁכַּב֙he will lie with

    yishkavH7901 →212 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אֵ֣שֶׁת[the] wife of

    ʾeshetH802 →781 times

  • אָבִ֔יוfather his

    ʾavivH1 →1212 times

  • עֶרְוַ֥ת[the] nakedness of

    ʾervatH6172 →54 times

  • אָבִ֖יוfather his

    ʾavivH1 →1212 times

  • גִּלָּ֑הhe has uncovered

    gilahH1540 →186 times

  • מֽוֹת־certainly <to die>

    mot-H4191 →839 times

  • יוּמְת֥וּthey will be put to death

    yumetuH4191 →839 times

  • שְׁנֵיהֶ֖םboth of them

    sheneihemH8147 →768 times

  • דְּמֵיהֶ֥םblood<s> their

    demeihemH1818 →360 times

  • בָּֽם׃[are] on <the> them

    bam

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

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

    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.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 18:8

      You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 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.

  • Through

    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!’

    it leads to

    • 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.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 27:23

    ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

    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.

  • Through

    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…

    it leads to

    • Amos 5:12

      For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

Where this verse is studied

About Leviticus

The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.

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.