Amplified Bible
Leviticus 18:16
16You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.
Leviticus 18:16 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.
- English Standard Version (ESV)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness.
- New King James Version (NKJV)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.
Context of Leviticus 18:16
14You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother’s wife; you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover their nakedness (have intimate relations with them); they are [her] blood relatives; it is an outrageous offense. 18You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.
Read all of Leviticus 18Leviticus 18:16 word by word
עֶרְוַ֥ת אֵֽשֶׁת־אָחִ֖יךָ לֹ֣א תְגַלֵּ֑ה עֶרְוַ֥ת אָחִ֖יךָ הִֽוא׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Leviticus 18:16
- Leviticus 20:21If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is a hated and unclean thing; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They will be childless.
- Deuteronomy 25:5“If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall be intimate with her after taking her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.
- Matthew 14:3For Herod had John arrested and bound him and put him in prison [at the fortress of Machaerus, east of the Jordan, to keep him away] because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,
- Matthew 22:24saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, leaving no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his widow, and raise children for his brother.’
- Mark 6:17For Herod himself had sent [guards] and had John arrested and shackled in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his [half-] brother Philip, because he (Herod) had married her.
- Mark 12:19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us [a law] that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but leaves no child, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.
- Luke 3:19But when Herod [Antipas] the tetrarch was repeatedly reprimanded [and convicted by John’s disapproval] for having Herodias, his brother’s wife [as his own], and for all the wicked things that Herod had done,
Commentaries on Leviticus 18:16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Thy brother's wife - This was an illegal marriage, unless the brother died childless. In that case it was not only lawful for her to marry her brother-in-law, but he was obliged by the law, Deuteronomy 25:5, to take her to wife.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16Thy brother‘s wife - That is, if she had children. See Deuteronomy 25:5. The law here expressed was broken by Antipas in his connection with Herodias Matthew 14:3-4.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16Having sexual relations with your sister-in-law would be adulterous and would disgrace your brother. An exception was the law of levirate marriage (see Deuteronomy 25:5–10). This required a man to marry his brother’s widow to produce an heir who was considered the dead brother’s son.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-302-4. I am the Lord your God--This renewed mention of the divine sovereignty over the Israelites was intended to bear particularly on some laws that were widely different from the social customs that obtained both in Egypt and Canaan; for the enormities, which the laws enumerated in this chapter were intended to put down, were freely practised or publicly sanctioned in both of those countries; and, indeed, the extermination of the ancient Canaanites is…Read the comment
Topics related to Leviticus 18:16
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Leviticus 18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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