New English Translation
Leviticus 18:8
8You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
- New King James Version (NKJV)The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.
Context of Leviticus 18:8
6“‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual intercourse with her. I am the Lord. 7You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have intercourse with her. You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. 9You must not have sexual intercourse with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual intercourse with either of them. 10You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual intercourse with them, because they are 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 has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
- Genesis 35:22While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Genesis 49:4You are destructive like water and will not excel, for you got on your father’s bed, then you defiled it – he got on my couch!
- Deuteronomy 22:30(23:1) A man may not marry his father’s former wife and in this way dishonor his father.
- Deuteronomy 27:20‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his father’s former wife, for he dishonors his father.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’
- 2 Samuel 16:21Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.”
- Ezekiel 22:10They have sex with their father’s wife within you; they violate women during their menstrual period within you.
- Amos 2:7They trample on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; they push the destitute away. A man and his father go to the same girl; in this way they show disrespect for my moral purity.
- 1 Corinthians 5:1It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with 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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