Christian Standard Bible
Leviticus 18:16
16You are not to have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s family.
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 are not to violate the intimacy that belongs to your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual intercourse; she is your aunt. 15You 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. You are not to have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s family. 17You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter. 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. 18You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime.
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 marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has violated the intimacy that belongs to his brother; they will be childless.
- Deuteronomy 25:5“When brothers live on the same property and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her.
- Matthew 14:3For Herod had arrested John, chained him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,
- Matthew 22:24“Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
- Mark 6:17For Herod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her.
- Mark 12:19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife behind but no child, that man should take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
- Luke 3:19But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the evil things he 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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