New International Version
Leviticus 18:16
16“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.
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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife, for this would violate your brother.
Context of Leviticus 18:16
14“ ‘Do not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt. 15“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; do not have relations with her. “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother. 17“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness. 18“ ‘Do not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
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 20:21“ ‘If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.
- Deuteronomy 25:5If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.
- Matthew 14:3Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,
- Matthew 22:24“Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.
- Mark 6:17For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.
- Mark 12:19“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
- Luke 3:19But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other 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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