Leviticus 18:20

Leviticus 18:20 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.
• New International Version (NIV)“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.
• English Standard Version (ESV)And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her.

Context of Leviticus 18:20

18You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive. 19You must not approach a woman to have sexual relations with her during her menstrual period. You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her. 21You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 22You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.

Leviticus 18:20 word by word

וְאֶל־אֵ֙שֶׁת֙ עֲמִֽיתְךָ֔ לֹא־תִתֵּ֥ן שְׁכָבְתְּךָ֖ לְזָ֑רַע לְטָמְאָה־בָֽהּ׃Read the interlinear

• You must notלֹאlô' lô' lôh · notH3808
• lieנָתַןnâthan · to give: give(marriage)H5414
• carnallyשְׁכֹ֫בֶתshekôbeth · copulationH7903
• carnallyזֶ֫רַעzera‛ · seed: semenH2233
• withאֶל'êl 'el · to(wards)H413
• your neighbor’sעָמִית‛âmîyth · neighborH5997
• wifeאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · woman: wifeH802
• and thus defile yourselfטָמֵאţâmê' · to defileH2930

Cross-references for Leviticus 18:20

• Leviticus 20:10If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
• Exodus 20:14You shall not commit adultery.
• Deuteronomy 5:18You shall not commit adultery.
• Deuteronomy 22:22If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
• 2 Samuel 11:3So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
• Proverbs 6:25Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
• Malachi 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
• Matthew 5:27You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’
• Romans 2:22You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
• 1 Corinthians 6:9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
• Galatians 5:19The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
• Hebrews 13:4Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Commentaries on Leviticus 18:20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20Thy neighbor's wife - See Clarke's note on Exodus 20:14.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20The Hebrew word translated as defile yourself can be more literally translated as to become ceremonially unclean. In the Old Testament, sexual intercourse with a neighbor’s wife or any married woman was adultery. Breaking this law was punishable by death (Deuteronomy 22:22). Like incest, adultery threatened the integrity and security of the home and family. It violated the marriage covenant and divided the adulterer’s affection between his spouse and his…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 18:20

• Abomination
• Adultery

In the dictionaries

• Approach
• Carnally
• Live
• Mankind
• Near
• Adultery
• Atonement, Day of
• Bastard
• Carnal
• Clean

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