Leviticus 18:8-18

8 You are not to have sex with your father's wife;[a] it will shame your father.
9 You are not to have sexual intercourse with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's,[b] whether born at home or born elsewhere. You are not to have sex with her.
10 You are not to have sexual intercourse with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, because it will shame your family.[c]
11 You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father's wife's daughter,[d] who is adopted by[e] your father; she is your sister.
12 You are not to have sexual intercourse with your father's sister;[f] she is your father's close relative.
13 You are not to have sexual intercourse with your mother's sister,[g] for she is your mother's close relative.
14 You are not to shame your father's brother by coming near his wife to have sexual intercourse; she is your aunt.[h]
15 You are not to have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; you are not to have sex with her.[i]
16 You are not to have sexual intercourse with your brother's wife; it will shame your brother.[j]
17 You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter.[k] You are not to marry her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter and have sex with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved.
18 You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her [sister's] lifetime.[l]

Leviticus 18:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 18

In this chapter the Israelites are directed in general not to imitate the customs and practices of the Egyptians and Canaanites, but to keep the ordinances, statutes, and judgments of the Lord, Le 18:1-5; and they are instructed particularly to avoid incestuous marriages, Le 18:6-18; carnal copulation with a menstruous woman, Le 18:19; adultery, Le 18:20; letting any of their seed pass through the fire to Molech, Le 18:21; sodomy, Le 18:22; and bestiality, Le 18:23; and they are deterred from these things by observing to them the pollution and destruction which they brought on the inhabitants of Canaan, and would bring the same on them should they commit them, Le 18:24-30.

Footnotes 12

  • [a]. Lv 20:11; Gn 35:22; 2 Sm 16:21-22; 1 Co 5:1
  • [b]. Lv 18:11; 20:17; Dt 27:22
  • [c]. Lit because they are your nakedness
  • [d]. This must refer to a daughter from a previous marriage.
  • [e]. Lit daughter, a relative of
  • [f]. Lv 20:19; Ex 6:20
  • [g]. Lv 20:19
  • [h]. Lv 20:20
  • [i]. Lv 20:12; Gn 38:11-19; Ezk 22:11
  • [j]. Lv 20:21; Dt 25:5-10; Mk 6:18
  • [k]. Lv 20:14; Dt 27:23; Am 2:7
  • [l]. Gn 29:21-28
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