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Monday, July 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Amplified Bible

Leviticus 21:3

also his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may become unclean.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Mourning;   Sanctification;   Uncleanness;   The Topic Concordance - Priests;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Dead, the;   Defilement;   High Priest, the;   Priests;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Mourning;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Priest;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Clean, Unclean;   Incest;   Priest, Christ as;   Priest, Priesthood;   Worship;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Purification;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Mourning;   Priest;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birds of Abomination;   Leviticus;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Congregation, Assembly;   Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;   Hexateuch;   Holiness;   Law;   Leviticus;   Priests and Levites;   Sanctification, Sanctify;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Priesthood, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Corpse;   Leviticus;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Commandments, the 613;   Corpse;   Mourning;   Priest;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
and for his sister a virgin, that is near to him, that has had no husband; for her may he defile himself.
King James Version
And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.
Lexham English Bible
and for his sister, a virgin, who is closest to him, who has not had a husband—for her he may defile himself.
New Century Version
unmarried sister who is close to him because she has no husband. The priest may make himself unclean for her if she dies.
New English Translation
and his virgin sister who is near to him, who has no husband; he may defile himself for her.
New American Standard Bible
also for his virgin sister who is near to him because she has not had a husband; for her, he may defile himself.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Or by his sister a maid, that is neere vnto him, which hath not had a husband: for her he may lament.
Legacy Standard Bible
also for his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.
Contemporary English Version
or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her.
Complete Jewish Bible
he may also make himself unclean for his virgin sister who has never married and is therefore dependent on him.
Darby Translation
and for his sister, a virgin, that is near unto him, who hath had no husband, for her may he make himself unclean.
Easy-to-Read Version
his unmarried sister. (This sister is close to him because she has no husband. So the priest may make himself unclean for her if she dies.)
English Standard Version
or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean).
George Lamsa Translation
And for his virgin sister, who is near to him, who had no husband; for her he may defile himself.
Good News Translation
or unmarried sister living in his house.
Christian Standard Bible®
He may make himself unclean for his unmarried virgin sister in his immediate family.
Literal Translation
and for his sister, the virgin, who is near to him, who has not been with a man, for her he may be defiled.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
& vpon his sister, which is yet a virgin, & hath bene no mans wife (which belongeth vnto him) vpon her maie he defyle himself.
American Standard Version
and for his sister a virgin, that is near unto him, that hath had no husband; for her may he defile himself.
Bible in Basic English
And for his sister, a virgin, for she is his near relation and has had no husband, he may make himself unclean.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And by his sister a mayde that is nye vnto hym, whom no man hath knowe: for her shall he be defiled.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
and for his sister a virgin, that is near unto him, that hath had no husband, for her may he defile himself.
King James Version (1611)
And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh vnto him, which hath had no husband: for her may he be defiled.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and for a virgin sister that is near to one, that is not espoused to a man; for these one shall defile himself.
English Revised Version
and for his sister a virgin, that is near unto him, which hath had no husband, for her may he defile himself.
Berean Standard Bible
or his unmarried sister who is near to him, since she has no husband.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and brother and sister, virgyn, which is not weddid to man;
Young's Literal Translation
and for his sister, the virgin, who is near unto him, who hath not been to a man; for her he is defiled.
Update Bible Version
and for his sister a virgin, that is near to him, that has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.
Webster's Bible Translation
And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh to him, who hath had no husband: for her he may be defiled.
World English Bible
and for his sister a virgin, that is near to him, that has had no husband; for her may he defile himself.
New King James Version
also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself.
New Living Translation
or his virgin sister who depends on him because she has no husband.
New Life Bible
or his young sister who is near to him because she has had no husband. For her he may make himself unclean.
New Revised Standard
likewise, for a virgin sister, close to him because she has had no husband, he may defile himself for her.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
or for his sister, a virgin who is near unto him, who belongeth not unto a husband, - for her, he may make himself unclean:
Douay-Rheims Bible
And for a maiden sister, who hath had no husband.
Revised Standard Version
or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself).
New American Standard Bible (1995)
also for his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.

Contextual Overview

1Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'No one shall defile himself [that is, become ceremonially unclean] for the dead among his people [by touching a corpse or assisting in preparing it for burial], 2except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother, 3also his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may become unclean.4'He shall not become unclean as a relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself. 5'The priests shall not shave their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their body. 6'They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God; for they present the offerings by fire to the LORD, the food of their God; so they shall be holy. 7'They shall not take [as a wife] a woman who is a prostitute, nor a woman who is divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God. 8'You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the LORD, who sanctifies you, am holy. 9'The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by prostitution profanes her father; she shall be burned in fire.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Leviticus 22:12 - a stranger

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
But God said, "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall name him Isaac (laughter); and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.
Genesis 21:6
Sarah said, "God has made me laugh; all who hear [about our good news] will laugh with me."
Genesis 21:12
God said to Abraham, "Do not let it distress you because of Ishmael and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her and do what she asks, for your descendants will be named through Isaac.
Genesis 22:2
God said, "Take now your son, your only son [of promise], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
Joshua 24:3
'Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the [Euphrates] River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants, and I gave him Isaac.
Matthew 1:2
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers [who became the twelve tribes of Israel].
Acts 7:8
"And God gave Abraham a covenant [a formal agreement to be strictly observed] of [which] circumcision [was the sign]; and so [under these circumstances] Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac [became the father] of Jacob, and Jacob [became the father] of the twelve patriarchs.
Romans 9:7
and they are not all the children of Abraham because they are his descendants [by blood], but [the promise was]: "YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED THROUGH ISAAC" [though Abraham had other sons].
Hebrews 11:18
to whom it was said, "THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him,.... That is, his sister by both father's and mother's side, as Aben Ezra; though, according to Gersom, his sister by his father's side, and not by his mother's side, is meant; but, according to Alphes, by his mother's side: perhaps this may signify not nearness of kin, which is expressed by being his sister, but nearness of place, for, being unmarried, she remained unto her death in her father's house:

which hath had no husband; neither betrothed to one, for then she would have been nigh to her husband, and not her brother, and therefore he might not pollute himself for her, as Gersom observes; nor married to him, for such an one he might not defile himself, even though she might have been rejected or divorced by her husband, as the same writer says:

for her may he be defiled; for a pure virgin that had never been betrothed nor married to a man, and had never departed from her father's house, and so had no husband to mourn for her, and take care of her funeral, and so for all the rest before mentioned; and which Jarchi says is a command, and not a bare sufferance or allowance, but what he ought and was obliged to do; and so it is related of Joseph r, a priest, that his wife died in the evening of the sabbath, and he would not defile himself for her, and his brethren the priests obliged him, and made him defile himself against his will.

r T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 90. 1.


 
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