English Standard Version
Leviticus 18:8
8You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
Leviticus 18:8 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father.
- New King James Version (NKJV)The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“Do not have sexual relations with any of your father’s wives, for this would violate your father.
Context of Leviticus 18:8
6"None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness. 9You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness.
Read all of Leviticus 18Leviticus 18:8 word by word
עֶרְוַ֥ת אֵֽשֶׁת־אָבִ֖יךָ לֹ֣א תְגַלֵּ֑ה עֶרְוַ֥ת אָבִ֖יךָ הִֽוא׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Leviticus 18:8
- Leviticus 20:11If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
- Genesis 35:22While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
- Genesis 49:4Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
- Deuteronomy 22:30"A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness.
- Deuteronomy 27:20"'Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's nakedness.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
- 2 Samuel 16:21Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Go in to your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench to your father, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened."
- Ezekiel 22:10In you men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity.
- Amos 2:7those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned;
- 1 Corinthians 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.
Commentaries on Leviticus 18:8
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8Compare the case of Reuben, Genesis 49:3-4. See 1 Corinthians 5:1.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7-8expose the nakedness of your father: The Hebrew text equates having sexual relations with your mother or any of your father's wives to having sexual relations with him (compare Genesis 35:22; 49:4; see also 1 Corinthians 5:1). The husband and his wife "become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24; compare Ephesians 5:29). These commands always emphasize honoring your parents (Leviticus 20:9; Exodus 20:12). These commands extend to other family members (see also study…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 18:8
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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Commentaries