Deuteronomy 22:30

30 A man may not take the wife of his father, and [so] {he may not dishonor his father}.

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 finds a young woman, a virgin [who] is not engaged, and he seizes her and {he has sex with her} and they are caught,

29 then {the man who lay with her} shall give to the father of the young woman fifty [shekels] of silver, and she shall become {his wife} {because} he violated her, and he is not allowed to divorce her {during his lifetime}.

30 A man may not take the wife of his father, and [so] {he may not dishonor his father}.

Footnotes

• [a] Deuteronomy 22:30-23:25 in the English Bible is 23:1-26 in the Hebrew Bible
• [b] Literally "not he may reveal the skirt of the garment of his father"