Leviticus 20:20

20 '¹If there is a man who lies with his uncle's wife he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless.

Leviticus 20:20 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 20:20

And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife
His uncle being dead, and he marry her, which is forbidden, ( Leviticus 18:14 ) ; he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness:
his wife's, which was his, and therefore the kindred too near for a man to marry in, and such a copulation must be incestuous: they shall bear their sin;
"both" of them, as the Vulgate Latin, as before, ( Leviticus 20:19 ) ; the punishment of it, as follows: they shall be childless;
which Jarchi and other Jewish writers interpret, if they had any children at this time, that is, by a former marriage, they should die and be buried before them, which was reckoned a great punishment, see ( Jeremiah 22:30 ) .

Leviticus 20:20 In-Context

18 'If there is a man who lies with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow, and she has exposed the flow of her blood; thus both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

19 'You shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for such a one has made naked his blood relative; they will bear their guilt.

20 'If there is a man who lies with his uncle's wife he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless.

21 'If there is a man who takes his brother's wife, it is abhorrent; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They will be childless.

22 'You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out.

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 18:14