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Leviticus 20:21

in Leviticus 20

If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity. He has uncovered the nakedness of his brother; they shall be childless.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is impurity: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

KJV

And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

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This verse in Leviticus 20

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Nay it is said, They shall bear their iniquity, that is, though they be not immediately cut off by the hand either of God or man for this sin, yet the guilt of it shall lie upon them, to be reckoned for another day, and not be purged with sacrifice or offering.

This site's exposition

If a man lies with his uncle’s wife

on Leviticus 20:20-21

These two verses carry a sentence found in no other law, which is childlessness. The words die childless occur once in the King James text, so what is taken here is a future rather than a life.

This site's exposition

they shall be childless

Leviticus 18:16 forbade this union because it would shame the brother, and this verse sets the sentence against both of them. The union itself is called an act of impurity.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And if a man shall take his brother's wife,....

The words behind it

13 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

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • יִקַּ֛חhe will take

    yikachH3947 →966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אֵ֥שֶׁת[the] wife of

    ʾeshetH802 →781 times

  • אָחִ֖יוbrother his

    ʾachivH251 →630 times

  • נִדָּ֣ה[is] impurity

    nidahH5079 →29 times

  • הִ֑ואit

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • עֶרְוַ֥ת[the] nakedness of

    ʾervatH6172 →54 times

  • אָחִ֛יוbrother his

    ʾachivH251 →630 times

  • גִּלָּ֖הhe has uncovered

    gilahH1540 →186 times

  • עֲרִירִ֥יםchildless

    ʾaririmH6185 →

  • יִהְיֽוּ׃they will be

    yihyuH1961 →3559 times

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

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

5 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 18:16

    You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would shame your brother.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 25:5

      When brothers dwell together and one of them dies without a son, the widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother is to take her as his wife and fulfill the duty…

    • Mark 12:19

      “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.

    • Matthew 22:24

      “Teacher,” they said, “Moses declared that if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.

    • Mark 6:17

      For Herod himself had ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod had married.

    • Luke 3:19

      But when he rebuked Herod the tetrarch regarding his brother’s wife Herodias and all the evils he had done,

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 20 →

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.

Read on in Leviticus 20 →