Leviticus 18:7
in Leviticus 18You must not expose the nakedness of your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The nakedness of thy father, even the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
KJV
The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
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This verse in Leviticus 18
Commentary
4 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Or - It might be rendered “and”, or rather, even; that is, which belongs to both parents as being “one flesh” (Gen 2:24; compare Lev 18:8, Lev 18:14). These prohibitions are addressed to men.
This site's exposition
None of you are to approach any close relative
on Leviticus 18:6-8
Verse 6 is the heading, and everything through verse 18 works it out. The Hebrew behind close relative is she'er besaro, the remnant of his flesh, so the stated ground of the law is shared flesh.
This site's exposition
She is your mother
Albert Barnes suggests the joining word can be read as even, so the nakedness of father and mother is one nakedness. He grounds this in Genesis 2:24, where husband and wife are one flesh. He adds that the prohibitions are addressed to men.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shall thou not uncover,....
The words behind it
11 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 |
| אָבִ֛יךָ | ʾavikha | father your | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וְעֶרְוַ֥ת | veervat | and [the] nakedness of | H6172 → | 54 times |
| אִמְּךָ֖ | ʾimekha | mother your | H517 → | 220 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְגַלֵּ֑ה | tegaleh | you will uncover | H1540 → | 186 times |
| אִמְּךָ֣ | ʾimekha | [is] mother your | H517 → | 220 times |
| הִ֔וא | hi' | she | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְגַלֶּ֖ה | tegaleh | you will uncover | H1540 → | 186 times |
| עֶרְוָתָֽהּ׃ ס | ʾervatah | nakedness her | H6172 → | 54 times |
עֶרְוַ֥ת[the] nakedness of
ʾervatH6172 →54 times
אָבִ֛יךָfather your
ʾavikhaH1 →1212 times
וְעֶרְוַ֥תand [the] nakedness of
veervatH6172 →54 times
אִמְּךָ֖mother your
ʾimekhaH517 →220 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תְגַלֵּ֑הyou will uncover
tegalehH1540 →186 times
אִמְּךָ֣[is] mother your
ʾimekhaH517 →220 times
הִ֔ואshe
hi'H1931 →1879 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תְגַלֶּ֖הyou will uncover
tegalehH1540 →186 times
עֶרְוָתָֽהּ׃ סnakedness her
ʾervatahH6172 →54 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
Leviticus 20:14If 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!’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 18:17
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…
- Joshua 7:15
The one who is caught with the things devoted to destruction must be burned, along with all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrage…
- Deuteronomy 27:23
Through
Ezekiel 22:10In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.
it leads to
- Leviticus 18:7–8
You must not expose the nakedness of your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 18:19
You must not approach a woman to have sexual relations with her during her menstrual period.
- Ezekiel 18:6
He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her period.
- 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.
- Leviticus 18:7–8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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).