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Leviticus 18:17

in Leviticus 18

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 relatives; it is depraved.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter; thou shalt not take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; they are near kinswomen: it is wickedness.

KJV

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.

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This verse in Leviticus 18

Commentary

2 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter

on Leviticus 18:17-18

Verse 17 forbids a woman and her daughter together and calls it "depraved". Adam Clarke reads verse 18 as forbidding two sisters while the first is alive, pointing to Leah and Rachel in Genesis 29 and 30.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

IT IS ‘ZIMAH’ (LEWDNESS). Onkelos translated: “it is a sinful plan,” and Rashi commented thereon, “because your evil inclination counsels you to sin.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Leviticus 18:17:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

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. 7 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

19 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

  • אִשָּׁ֛הa woman

    ʾishahH802 →781 times

  • וּבִתָּ֖הּand daughter her

    uvitahH1323 →588 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תְגַלֵּ֑הyou will uncover

    tegalehH1540 →186 times

  • אֶֽת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • בַּת־[the] daughter of

    bat-H1323 →588 times

  • בְּנָ֞הּson her

    benahH1121 →4930 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • בַּת־[the] daughter of

    bat-H1323 →588 times

  • בִּתָּ֗הּdaughter her

    bitahH1323 →588 times

  • לֹ֤אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תִקַּח֙you will take

    tikachH3947 →966 times

  • לְגַלּ֣וֹתto uncover

    legalotH1540 →186 times

  • עֶרְוָתָ֔הּnakedness her

    ʾervatahH6172 →54 times

  • שַׁאֲרָ֥ה[are] relative[s]

    shaarahH7608 →

  • הֵ֖נָּהthey

    henahH2007 →

  • זִמָּ֥ה[is] wickedness

    zimahH2154 →29 times

  • הִֽואit

    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

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

    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.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 27:23

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

    • 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…

  • 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.

    • Ezekiel 22:11

      One 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.

    • Isaiah 10:2

      to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.

    • 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.

    • Micah 2:2

      They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.

  • 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.

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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).

Read on in Leviticus 18 →