Leviticus 20:17

17 If a man marries his sister, whether his father's daughter or his mother's daughter,^[a] and they have sexual relations,^[b] it is a disgrace. They must be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his punishment.

Leviticus 20:17 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 20:17

And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or
his mother's daughter
Take her to be his wife, or commit lewdness with her, whether she be his sister by both father and mother's side, or whether by one only, either way she is his sister, and it is not lawful to marry her, or lie with her, see ( Leviticus 18:9 ) : and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness;
which is not to be understood of an immodest view, exposing to each other what should not be seen, and pleasing themselves wills such obscene sights, but of the act of lying together, for so it is afterwards explained by a phrase frequently used to express that action by; and it denotes, as Aben Ezra observes, their mutual consent and agreement in it: it [is] a wicked thing;
and by no means to be done; it is a breach of a former law, it is a scandalous and reproachful thing, and the word is sometimes used for reproach, as in ( Proverbs 14:34 ) ; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people;
by death, either by the hand of the civil magistrate, or by the hand of God, by the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan; Ben Gersom interprets it, of their dying childless, as in some following cases, ( Leviticus 20:20 Leviticus 20:21 ) ; he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness;
or lay with her, which explains a preceding clause: he shall bear his iniquity;
the punishment of it, and he alone, as Aben Ezra observes.

Leviticus 20:17 In-Context

15 If a man has sexual intercourse with an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal.

16 If a woman comes near any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their [own] blood is on them.

17 If a man marries his sister, whether his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his punishment.

18 If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her [flow], and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from their people.

19 You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother's sister or your father's sister, for it is exposing one's own blood relative; both people will bear their punishment.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lv 18:9,11; Dt 27:22; Ezk 22:11
• [b]. Lit and he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness