Leviticus 20:17

17 If a man marries his sister—his father's daughter or his mother's daughter—and they have sexual contact with each other, it is a disgrace. They will be cut off in the sight of their people. Such a man has had sexual contact with his sister; he will be liable to 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 relations with an animal, he must be executed and you must kill the animal.

16 If a woman approaches any kind of animal to mate with it, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must be executed; their blood is on their own heads.

17 If a man marries his sister—his father's daughter or his mother's daughter—and they have sexual contact with each other, it is a disgrace. They will be cut off in the sight of their people. Such a man has had sexual contact with his sister; he will be liable to punishment.

18 If a man sleeps with a woman during her menstrual period and has sexual contact with her, he has exposed the source of her blood flow and she has uncovered the same. Both of them will be cut off from their people.

19 You must not have sexual contact with your mother's sister or your father's sister, because that exposes your own close relative; both of you will be liable to punishment.