Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Updated Bible Version

Leviticus 18:8

You shall not have sex with your father's wife, it is your father's nakedness.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Abomination;   Copulation;   Incest;   Marriage;   The Topic Concordance - Sexual Activities;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Affinity;   Marriage;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Fornication;   Marriage;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Family Life and Relations;   Immorality, Sexual;   Incest;   Worship;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Affinity;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Reuben;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Bastard;   Incest;   Leviticus;   Naked;   Pentateuch;   Sex, Biblical Teaching on;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Congregation, Assembly;   Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;   Hexateuch;   Holiness;   Law;   Marriage;   Priests and Levites;   Sanctification, Sanctify;   Slave, Slavery;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Marriage;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Incest;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Peculiarities of the Law of Moses;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bastard;   Genesis;   Law in the Old Testament;   Leviticus;   Woman;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Capital Punishment;   Chastity;   Incest;   Leviticus;   Marriage Laws;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
"'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife: it is your father's nakedness.
King James Version
The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
Lexham English Bible
You must not expose the nakedness of your father's wife—it is your father's nakedness.
New Century Version
You must not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would shame your father.
New English Translation
You must not have sexual intercourse with your father's wife; she is your father's nakedness.
Amplified Bible
'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
New American Standard Bible
'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The shame of thy fathers wife shalt thou not discouer: for it is thy fathers shame.
Legacy Standard Bible
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
Contemporary English Version
And don't disgrace him by having sex with any of his other wives.
Complete Jewish Bible
You are not to have sexual relations with your father's wife; that is your father's prerogative.
Darby Translation
The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
Easy-to-Read Version
You must not have sexual relations with your father's wife, even if she is not your mother, because that is like having sexual relations with your father.
English Standard Version
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
George Lamsa Translation
You shall not approach your fathers wife; it is your fathers nakedness.
Good News Translation
Do not disgrace your father by having intercourse with any of his other wives.
Christian Standard Bible®
You are not to have sex with your father’s wife; she is your father’s family.
Literal Translation
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is the nakedness of your father.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thou shalt not vncouer ye preuytie of yi fathers wife, for it is yi fathers preuytie.
American Standard Version
The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover; it is thy father's nakedness.
Bible in Basic English
And you may not have sex relations with your father's wife: she is your father's.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The nakednesse of thy fathers wife shalt thou not discouer: for it is thy fathers nakednesse.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
King James Version (1611)
The nakednesse of thy fathers wife shalt thou not vncouer: it is thy fathers nakednesse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s wife; it is thy father’s nakedness.
English Revised Version
The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
Berean Standard Bible
You must not have sexual relations with your father's wife; it would dishonor your father.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou schalt not vnhile the filthe of the wijf of thi fadir, for it is the filthe of thi fadir.
Young's Literal Translation
`The nakedness of the wife of thy father thou dost not uncover; it [is] the nakedness of thy father.
Webster's Bible Translation
The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it [is] thy father's nakedness.
World English Bible
The nakedness of your father's wife you shall not uncover: it is your father's nakedness.
New King James Version
The nakedness of your father's wife you shall not uncover; it is your father's nakedness.
New Living Translation
"Do not have sexual relations with any of your father's wives, for this would violate your father.
New Life Bible
Do not take the clothes off your father's wife. Her body is for your father.
New Revised Standard
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is the nakedness of your father.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The shame of thy father's wife, shalt thou not uncover, - thy father's shame, it is.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s wife: for it is the nakedness of thy father.
Revised Standard Version
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
THE MESSAGE
"Don't have sex with your father's wife. That violates your father.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.

Contextual Overview

6 Any man shall not have sex with anyone that is near of kin to him: I am Yahweh. 7 The nakedness of your father, even the nakedness of your mother, you shall not uncover. She is your mother, you shall not have sex with her. 8 You shall not have sex with your father's wife, it is your father's nakedness. 9 With your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home, or born abroad, you shall not have sex with them. 10 You shall not have sex with your son's daughter, or with your daughter's daughter: for theirs is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not have sex with your father's wife's daughter, begotten of your father, she is your sister. 12 You shall not have sex with your father's sister: she is your father's near kinswoman. 13 You shall not have sex with your mother's sister: for she is your mother's near kinswoman. 14 You shall not have sex with your father's brother, you shall not have sex with his wife: she is your aunt. 15 You shall not have sex with your daughter-in-law: she is your son's wife. You shall not have sex with her.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Leviticus 20:11, Genesis 35:22, Genesis 49:4, Deuteronomy 22:30, Deuteronomy 27:20, 2 Samuel 16:21, 2 Samuel 16:22, Ezekiel 22:10, Amos 2:7, 1 Corinthians 5:1

Reciprocal: 1 Chronicles 5:1 - forasmuch

Cross-References

Genesis 19:3
And he urged them greatly; and they turned in to him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Deuteronomy 32:14
Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the finest of the wheat; And of the blood of the grape you drank wine.
Judges 5:25
He asked water, [and] she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
Judges 13:15
And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, I pray you, let us detain you, that we may make ready a young goat for you.
Nehemiah 12:44
And on that day were men appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave-offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited.
Luke 12:37
Blessed are those slaves, whom the lord when he comes shall find watching: truly I say to you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them.
Luke 17:8
and will not rather say to him, Make ready [that] with which I may sup, and gird yourself, and serve me, until I have eaten and drank; and afterward you shall eat and drink?
Luke 24:30
And it came to pass, when he had sat down with them to meat, he took the bread and blessed; and breaking [it] he gave to them.
Luke 24:43
And he took it, and ate before them.
John 12:2
So they made him a supper there: and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of those that sat to eat with him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover,.... That is, who is indeed a man's father's wife, but not his own mother, but a stepmother or mother-in-law; or otherwise this law would coincide with the former; a man lying with such an one is accursed by the law,

Deuteronomy 27:23; such an incestuous copulation was that of Reuben with Bilhah, and Absalom with his father's concubines or secondary wives, and such an incestuous marriage was that of the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 5:1; and of Antiochus Soter, king of Syria, with Stratonice his mother-in-law c: and even it was criminal to do this after a father's death, as Jarchi interprets it; and though she was only betrothed, and not married, and the father dead after such betrothing; as Gersom; nay, though she was divorced by the father, yet was not lawful for the son to have, no, not after his death:

it is thy father's nakedness; being espoused to him, and so one flesh with him; and the son and father being one flesh, such a mixture must be unlawful; and since then the nakedness of a mother-in-law is the father's, then surely that of an own mother's must be so likewise, which confirms a sense given of it in Leviticus 18:7: Cicero d exclaims against such marriages as incredible and unheard of, as instances of unbridled lust and singular impudence.

c Vid. Julian. in Misopogon, p. 72, &c. d Orat. 14. pro A. Cluentio Avito.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare the case of Reuben, Genesis 49:3-4. See 1 Corinthians 5:1.


 
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