Deuteronomy 22:30

30 "A man is not to marry his father's wife; he must not violate his father's marriage bed.^{[a] [b] [c]}

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 young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered,

29 the man who raped her must give the young woman's father 50 silver [shekels], and she must become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.

30 "A man is not to marry his father's wife; he must not violate his father's marriage bed.

Footnotes

• [a] Dt 23:1 in Hb
• [b] Lit not uncover the edge of his father's garment; Ru 3:9; Ezk 16:8
• [c] Lv 18:8; 20:10-11