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Leviticus 18:12

in Leviticus 18

You must not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.

KJV

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.

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This verse in Leviticus 18

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
Thy father’s sister - The instance of Amram and Jochebed Exo 6:20 seems to show that marriage with an aunt was not considered wrong by the Israelites when they were in Egypt.

This site's exposition

You must not have sexual relations with your father’s sister

on Leviticus 18:12-13

Exodus 6:20 says that Amram took Jochebed his father's sister to wife, and Moses is the son of that marriage. The man who carries this law down the mountain is the child of a union it forbids.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister,....

The words behind it

8 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.

  • עֶרְוַ֥ת[the] nakedness of

    ʾervatH6172 →54 times

  • אֲחוֹת־[the] sister of

    ʾachot-H269 →114 times

  • אָבִ֖יךָfather your

    ʾavikhaH1 →1212 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תְגַלֵּ֑הyou will uncover

    tegalehH1540 →186 times

  • שְׁאֵ֥ר[is] a relative of

    sheerH7607 →16 times

  • אָבִ֖יךָfather your

    ʾavikhaH1 →1212 times

  • הִֽוא׃ סshe

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

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

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

7 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

    Exodus 6:20

    And Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 26:59

      and Amram’s wife was named Jochebed. She was also a daughter of Levi, born to Levi in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.

    • Exodus 2:1–2

      Now a man of the house of Levi married a daughter of Levi,

    • Exodus 6:16

      These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

    • Exodus 6:18

      The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.

  • Through

    Leviticus 20:19

    You must not have sexual relations with the sister of your mother or your father, for it is exposing one’s own kin; both shall bear their iniquity.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 18:6

      None of you are to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.

    • Leviticus 18:12–30

      You must not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.

    • Exodus 6:20

      And Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

Where this verse is studied

About Leviticus

The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
Leviticus: the study guide →Read Leviticus 18 →

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 (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.

Read on in Leviticus 18 →