Imamat 18:15

18:15 You must not have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You must not have intercourse with her.

Imamat 21:13

21:13 He must take a wife who is a virgin. ¹ 

Imamat 18:7

18:7 You must not ²  expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother. ³  She is your mother; you must not have intercourse with her.

Imamat 18:11

18:11 You must not have sexual intercourse with the daughter of your father’s wife born of your father; she is your sister. You must not have intercourse with her. ⁴ 

Imamat 18:8

18:8 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. ⁵ 

Imamat 18:12-13

18:12 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh. ⁶  18:13 You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s flesh.

Imamat 18:16

18:16 You must not have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness. ⁷ 

Imamat 19:19

19:19 You must keep my statutes. You must not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed, ⁸  you must not sow your field with two different kinds of seed, and you must not wear ⁹  a garment made of two different kinds of fabric. ¹⁰ 

Imamat 18:9

18:9 You must not have sexual intercourse with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, ¹¹  whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; ¹²  you must not have sexual intercourse with either of them. ¹³ 

Imamat 18:6

Laws of Sexual Relations

18:6 “‘No man is to approach any close relative ¹⁴  to have sexual intercourse with her. ¹⁵  I am the Lord. ¹⁶ 

Imamat 18:14

18:14 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not approach his wife to have sexual intercourse with her. ¹⁷  She is your aunt. ¹⁸ 

Imamat 21:3

21:3 and his virgin sister who is near to him, ¹⁹  who has no husband; he may defile himself for her.

Imamat 18:10

18:10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual intercourse with them, because they are your own nakedness. ²⁰ 

Imamat 18:18

18:18 You must not take a woman in marriage and then marry her sister as a rival wife ²¹  while she is still alive, ²²  to have sexual intercourse with her.

Imamat 22:12

22:12 If a priest’s daughter marries a lay person, ²³  she may not eat the holy contribution offerings, ²⁴ 

Imamat 18:17

18:17 You must not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse with them. ²⁵  They are closely related to her ²⁶  – it is lewdness. ²⁷ 

Imamat 20:14

20:14 If a man has sexual intercourse with both a woman and her mother, ²⁸  it is lewdness. ²⁹  Both he and they must be burned to death, ³⁰  so there is no lewdness in your midst.

Imamat 21:7

21:7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, ³¹  nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, ³²  for the priest ³³  is holy to his God. ³⁴ 

[21:13]  ¹ tn Heb “And he, a wife in her virginity he shall take.”

[18:7]  ² tn The verbal negative here is the same as that used in the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:4-5, 7, 13-17). It suggests permanent prohibition rather than a simple negative command and could, therefore, be rendered “must not” here and throughout the following section as it is in vv. 3-4 above.

[18:7]  ³ tn Heb “The nakedness of your father and [i.e., even] the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover.”

[18:7]  sn Commentators suggest that the point of referring to the father’s nakedness is that the mother’s sexuality belongs to the father and is forbidden to the son on that account (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 120, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 294). The expression may, however, derive from the shame of nakedness when exposed. If one exposes his mother’s nakedness to himself it is like openly exposing the father’s nakedness (cf. Gen 9:22-23 with the background of Gen 2:25 and 3:7, 21). The same essential construction is used in v. 10 where the latter explanation makes more sense than the former.

[18:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “The nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife born of your father, she is your sister; you must not uncover her nakedness.” That is, a half sister, the daughter of the man’s father by another wife, who is not the man’s mother, is to be considered a true sister. Therefore, the man must not have sexual intercourse with her.

[18:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “the nakedness of your father she is.” See the note on v. 7 above. This law refers to another wife of the man’s father, who is not that man’s mother. The laws in the Pentateuch sometimes assume the possibility that a man may have more than one wife (cf., e.g., Deut 21:15-17).

[18:12]  ⁶ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate all read “because she is the flesh of your father,” like the MT of v. 13.

[18:16]  ⁷ sn Regarding the last clause, see the notes on vv. 7 and 10 above.

[19:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “Your animals, you shall not cross-breed two different kinds.”

[19:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “you shall not cause to go up on you.”

[19:19]  ¹⁰ sn Cf. Deut 22:11 where the Hebrew term translated “two different kinds” (כִּלְאַיִם, kil’ayim) refers to a mixture of linen and wool woven together in a garment.

[18:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother.”

[18:9]  ¹² tn Heb “born of house or born of outside.” CEV interprets as “whether you grew up together or not” (cf. also TEV, NLT).

[18:9]  ¹³ tc Several medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Syriac have “her nakedness” rather than “their nakedness,” thus agreeing with singular “sister” at the beginning of the verse.

[18:9]  tn For a smooth English translation “either of” was added.

[18:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Man, man shall not draw near to any flesh (שְׁאֵר, shÿ’er) of his body/flesh (בָּשָׂר, basar).” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any (or “every”) man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2). The two words for “flesh” are combined to refer to emphasize the physical familial relatedness (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 282, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 119).

[18:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to uncover [her] nakedness” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), which is clearly euphemistic for sexual intercourse (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 282, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 119). This expression occurs a number of times in the following context and is generally translated “have sexual intercourse with [someone],” although in the case of the father mentioned in the following verse the expression may be connected to the shame or disgrace that would belong to the father whose wife’s sexuality is violated by his son. See the note on the word “mother” in v. 7.

[18:6]  ¹⁶ sn The general statement prohibiting sexual intercourse between close relatives serves as an opening summary statement for the following section, which gives details concerning which degrees of relationship are specifically forbidden.

[18:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you must not draw near to his wife.” In the context this refers to approaching one’s aunt to have sexual intercourse with her, so this has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:14]  ¹⁸ tn As in v. 12 (see the note there), some mss and versions have “because she is your aunt.”

[21:3]  ¹⁹ tn Cf. v. 2a.

[18:10]  ²⁰ sn That is, to have sexual intercourse with one’s granddaughter would be like openly exposing one’s own shameful nakedness (see the note on v. 7 above).

[18:18]  ²¹ tn Or “as a concubine”; Heb “And a woman to her sister you shall not take to be a second wife [or “to be a concubine”].” According to HALOT 1059 s.v. III צרר, the infinitive “to be a second wife” (לִצְרֹר, litsror) is a denominative verb from II צָרָה A (“concubine; second wife”), which, in turn, derives from II צר “to treat with hostility” (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 283, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 122).

[18:18]  ²² tn Heb “on her in her life.”

[22:12]  ²³ tn Heb “And a daughter of a priest, if she is to a man, a stranger” (cf. the note on v. 10 above).

[22:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “she in the contribution of the holy offerings shall not eat.” For “contribution [offering]” see the note on Lev 7:14 and the literature cited there. Cf. NCV “the holy offerings”; TEV, NLT “the sacred offerings.”

[18:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “You must not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter; the daughter of her son and the daughter of her daughter you must not take to uncover her nakedness.” Translating “her” as “them” provides consistency in the English. In this kind of context, “take” means to “take in marriage” (cf. also v. 18). The LXX and Syriac have “their nakedness,” referring to the nakedness of the woman’s granddaughters, rather than the nakedness of the woman herself.

[18:17]  ²⁶ tc Heb “they are her flesh.” The LXX reads “your” here (followed by NRSV). If the LXX reading were followed by the present translation, the result would be “They are closely related to you.”

[18:17]  ²⁷ tn The term rendered “lewdness” almost always carries a connotation of cunning, evil device, and divisiveness (cf. HALOT 272 s.v. I זִמָּה 2, “infamy”), and is closely associated with sexual and religious infidelity (cf., e.g., Lev 19:29; 20:14; Job 31:11; Jer 13:27; Ezek 16:27; 22:9). Recent English versions differ on how they handle this: NAB “would be shameful”; CEV “would make you unclean”; NIV “wickedness”; NLT “horrible wickedness”; NRSV “depravity”; TEV “incest.”

[20:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And a man who takes a woman and her mother.” The Hebrew verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”

[20:14]  ²⁹ tn Regarding “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.

[20:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in fire they shall burn him and them.” The active plural verb sometimes requires a passive translation (GKC 460 §144.f, g), esp. when no active plural subject has been expressed in the context. The present translation specifies “burned to death” because the traditional rendering “burnt with fire” (KJV, ASV; NASB “burned with fire”) could be understood to mean “branded” or otherwise burned, but not fatally.

[21:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “A wife harlot and profaned they shall not take.” The structure of the verse (e.g., “wife” at the beginning of the two main clauses) suggests that “harlot and profaned” constitutes a hendiadys, meaning “a wife defiled by harlotry” (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 143, as opposed to that in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 343, 348; cf. v. 14 below). Cf. NASB “a woman who is profaned by harlotry.”

[21:7]  ³² sn For a helpful discussion of divorce in general and as it relates to this passage see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 143-44.

[21:7]  ³³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:7]  ³⁴ tn The pronoun “he” in this clause refers to the priest, not the former husband of the divorced woman.