New International Version
Leviticus 18:8
8“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father.
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.
- 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.
- 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“ ‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord. 7“ ‘Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her. “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father. 9“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere. 10“ ‘Do not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; that would dishonor you.
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 20:11“ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
- Genesis 35:22While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Genesis 49:4Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.
- Deuteronomy 22:30A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.
- Deuteronomy 27:20“Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
- 2 Samuel 16:21Ahithophel answered, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.”
- Ezekiel 22:10In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean.
- Amos 2:7They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.
- 1 Corinthians 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping 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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