Deuteronomy 22:30

30 A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed. ^[a]

Deuteronomy 22:30 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:30

A man shall not take his father's wife
Not marry her, whether his own mother, or a stepmother; or even, as Aben Ezra thinks, anyone that was deflowered by his father. Jarchi interprets it of his father's brother's wife, which he was obliged to marry by virtue of the law in ( Deuteronomy 25:5 )

nor discover his father's skirt;
or lie with her his father had thrown his skirt over, or married; and which being the first, is mentioned here as a sample to all the rest forbidden ( Leviticus 18:7 ) or, as Bishop Patrick expresses it, is a "short memorandum", to make them careful to observe all the other laws respecting incestuous marriages and copulations there delivered.

Deuteronomy 22:30 In-Context

28 If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered,

29 then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

30 A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or uncover his father’s skirt