“ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.
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The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.
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The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Leviticus 18:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 20:11 “ ‘The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves.
- Deuteronomy 22:30 A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.
- Deuteronomy 27:20 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- 1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
- Amos 2:7 They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
- Genesis 49:4 Boiling over like water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
- Genesis 35:22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
- 2 Samuel 16:21-22 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
- Ezekiel 22:10 In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Which is thy stepmother.
Which is thy stepmother.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 18:8 The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt…
Lev 18:8 The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it [is] thy father’s nakedness.
Ver. 8. It is thy father’s nakedness.] For "the wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband": {1Co 7:4} and when her chastity is assaulted, she should say, saith Chrysostom, Non est corpus meum, sed mariti, My body is not mine, but my husband’s.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. Thy step-mother. Examples of this are Gen 35:22;…
i.e. Thy step-mother. Examples of this are Gen 35:22; 49:4; 1Co 5:1. It is thy father’s nakedness, by interest and relation; that which he only may uncover.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not…
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, Deu 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, Co1 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 Lev 18:7, Cicero (d) exclaims against such marriages as incredible and unheard of, as instances of unbridled lust and singular impudence.
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(c) Vid. Julian. in Misopogon, p. 72, &c. (d) Orat. 14. pro A. Cluentio Avito.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Compare the case of Reuben, Gen 49:3-4. See 1Co…
Compare the case of Reuben, Gen 49:3-4. See 1Co 5:1.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Father. He hath known her; and to him she…
Father. He hath known her; and to him she belongs, as being one flesh. (Haydock) --- If he were even dead, it would shew a want of respect to marry his widow, though she were not your own mother. (Calmet) --- This law, Ruben and the incestuous Corinthian transgressed. [1 Corinthians 5:1] (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Father’s wife — His stepmother is especially intended.
8. Father’s wife — His stepmother is especially intended.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. This is the one case which appears (apart…
8. This is the one case which appears (apart from two others in the imprecations, Deu_27:22-23), but stated in different words, in Deut. (Deu_22:30 [Heb. 23:1], Deu_27:20). This has been thought to point to the code represented by the v. in Deut. as earlier than that here; but an easier explanation is to suppose that the practice, as specially prevalent at the time, needed specific prohibition. Illicit connexion with a stepmother here forbidden, was not uncommon in the polygamous East. See Driver, Deut., p. 259, for the custom in Syria and Arabia. It seems to have been still common in the time of Ezekiel (Eze_22:10).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) The nakedness of thy father’s wife.—Whilst the former…
(8) The nakedness of thy father’s wife.—Whilst the former prohibition refers to the son’s own mother, this law is directed against illicit commerce with his stepmother. Here we have an instance where the phrase “to uncover the nakedness” denotes both illicit commerce and incestuous marriage. Accordingly the administrators of the law during the second Temple defined it as follows; a man’s father’s wife is for ever prohibited, whether she be simply betrothed or married to his father, whether she be divorced or not, whether she be a widow or not; all connection with her on the part of the father’s son is forbidden. If he lie with her while her husband is alive, he is doubly guilty, first, because she is near of kin, and secondly, because she is another man’s wife. This, therefore, includes the sin of Reuben with Bilhah, his father’s concubine (Gen_35:22), and of Absalom with the wives of his father (2Sa_16:20-23; 1Ki_2:17), which was not incestuous marriage but adultery, since their husbands were alive and the wives were not divorced from them, as well as the sin practised among some of the Christians in Corinth, which consisted in sons actually marrying their divorced stepmothers in the lifetime of their fathers, and which the Apostle denounced with such severity (1Co_5:1-4). Among the ancient Arabs, marriages with stepmothers were common, and to this day among some tribes in Africa, when a father is unable through advanced age to attend to his young wives, he voluntarily gives them over to his eldest son. The Koran, however, like the Mosaic law, proscribes these marriages (Koran, 4:27).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.