“ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or born abroad.
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or born abroad.
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The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
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The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or the daughter of thy mother, whether born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
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Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Leviticus 18:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 20:17 “ ‘If a man takes his sister—his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter—and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a shameful thing. They shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his iniquity.
- Deuteronomy 27:22 ‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- Ezekiel 22:11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.
- 2 Samuel 13:11-14 When she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her, and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister!” She answered him, “No, my brother, do not force me! For no such thing ought to be done in Israel. Don’t you do this folly. As for me, where would I carry my shame? And as for you, you will be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you.” However he would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she, he forced her, and lay with her.
- Leviticus 18:11 “ ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, conceived by your father, since she is your sister.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Either by father or mother, born in marriage or…
Either by father or mother, born in marriage or otherwise.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 18:9 The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter…
Lev 18:9 The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, [whether she be] born at home, or born abroad, [even] their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
Ver. 9. Or born abroad,] i.e., Base born, which our English laws call natural children. The Hebrews call them brambles, and Mamzerim, spots abroad, and Shatukim, such as must say nothing when others are praising their parents. The Greeks call bastards, υβριδες, because they are their fathers’ reproach, and are subject to contempt and contumelies of others.
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 Thy sister, by both parents.
Thy sister, by both parents.
The daughter of thy father, or
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daughter of thy mother; thy sister by either of thy parents.
Whether she be born at home, to wit, of thy father by another wife, whom he hath taken into his house. Or born abroad; either of thy mother, by another, whether a former or a second husband, in another house and family; or of thy father by some strange woman, for there might be some doubt in these cases.
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 sister,.... To lie with one…
The nakedness of thy sister,.... To lie with one in so near a relation is exceeding criminal, and for which the law curses a man, Deu 27:22; and to marry her is not lawful; for though it was necessary for the propagation of mankind that a man should marry his sister, for who else could Cain and Abel marry? yet afterwards, when there was an increase of mankind, and there were people enough remote from each other, it became unlawful for persons in such near ties of consanguinity to marry with each other; though the Egyptians did, in imitation of Isis and Osiris (e), and so the Persians, following the example of Cambyses (f):
the daughter of thy father, or the daughter of thy mother; whether she is a sister both by father and mother's side, or whether only by the fathers side and not the mother's, as Sarah was to Abraham, Gen 20:12; or only by the mother's side and not the father's:
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whether she be born at home or born abroad; not whether born and brought up in his and her father's house, or born and brought up in another place and province; though there were some, as Aben Ezra observes, that so interpreted it, according to the sense of the word in Gen 50:23; but rather the sense is, as that writer gives it, whether born according to the law of the house of Israel, after espousals and marriage, or without it; that is, whether begotten in lawful marriage or not, whether a legitimate offspring or spurious, born in adultery and whoredom, whether on the father or mother's side; so the Targum of Jonathan, whom thy father begat of another woman, or of thy mother, or whom thy mother bore or brought forth, of thy father, or of another man; and to the same purpose Onkelos:
even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover; neither lie with, or have carnal knowledge of, nor marry one or the other.
(e) Diodor. Sicul. l. 1. p. 23. (f) Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 31.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Lev 18:9. Whether she be born at home, or…
Lev 18:9. Whether she be born at home, or born abroad — Whether she be legitimately born in wedlock, or illegitimately out of wedlock. Others explain it thus: “Whether she be thy sister by the same father, or by another marriage.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thy sister - What was here spoken of was…
Thy sister - What was here spoken of was the distinguishing offence of the Egyptians.
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 Abroad; being born of your mother, while she was…
Abroad; being born of your mother, while she was married to another. The marriages of brothers and sisters at the beginning, were authorized by necessity; but now they are the more to be condemned, as religion forbids them. (St. Augustine, City of God xv. 16.) Some Rabbins assert, that such connexions were lawful till the time of Moses. But St. Epiphanius (hær. 39,) maintains, they had been condemned long before. Seneca (St. Augustine, City of God vi. 10,) acknowledges that such marriages of the pagan gods were not right; ne pie quidem: and Plato says, they are hateful to God. The Romans punished them with death. Many barbarians do not, however, make any scruple to contract marriage with their children, or with their mothers. (St. Jerome, contra Jov. ii. 2.; Eurip. Hermione.) (Calmet)
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 9. Thy sister — The half-sister is here described;…
9. Thy sister — The half-sister is here described; born at home, or born abroad — This has generally been understood as equivalent to “in or out of wedlock,” that is, the daughter of the father’s former wife or concubine; or it may amplify the preceding words, and signify one born to either parent in a former marriage. The Athenians were allowed to marry half-sisters by the father’s side; the Spartans married half-sisters by the same mother.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) The nakedness of thy sister.—The fact that Adam…
(9) The nakedness of thy sister.—The fact that Adam married “bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh,” and that his sons married their own sisters, encouraged the ancient Hebrew to imitate their example. Hence we find Abraham, the father of the faithful, married his half-sister (Gen_20:12). The same practice obtained amongst other nations of antiquity. Thus the Athenians married their half-sisters by their father’s side, and the Spartans married half-sisters by the same mother, whilst the Assyrians and Egyptians married full sisters. Though nothing can be more explicit than the law here laid down, and though the transgression of it is denounced as an accursed and impious crime, to be visited with capital punishment (see Lev_20:17; Deu_27:22), yet from the narrative of Amnon and his sister Tamar, and especially from the touching and melancholy remark of the outraged sister (2Sa_13:13; 2Sa_13:16; 2Sa_13:20), it is evident that the practice of the primitive parents of the human race and the example of the father of the Hebrew nation, continued to be followed in spite of this law. (Comp. Eze_22:11.)
Born at home or born abroad.—Literally, the birth, or offspring of the house or the birth, or offspring from abroad. According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, the import of this precept is to forbid commerce between a brother and a sister, whether the sister is born in wedlock, which is meant by born at home, or whether she is illegitimate, which is meant by birth or offspring from abroad. Hence the ancient Chaldee Version of this clause, “whom thy father begot of another woman or of thy mother, or whom thy mother brought forth by thy father or by another man.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain In the third place, incest with a sister is…
In the third place, incest with a sister is forbidden, and it is specifically stated that under the term "sister" is meant the half-sister, the daughter of thy father, or... thy mother,... born at home, as would naturally be the case if she were the father"s daughter, or born abroad, that is, the daughter of the mother by a previous marriage, when she belonged to a different household. Tamar"s appeal to Amnon, "I pray thee speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee," exhibits to us the poor woman grasping at any argument which might save her from her half-brother"s brutality, and does not indicate that such marriages were, in the time of David, permissible. (2Sa_13:29) The exact degree of relationship which existed between Abraham and Sarah is not altogether certain. (cf. Gen_20:12 with Gen_11:29) Ezekiel reckons this sin in the catalogue of the iniquities of Jerusalem. (Eze_22:11)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 whether she is the daughter of your father or…
whether she is the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother
This means a man cannot sleep with his sister if they have the same parents or even if she has a different mother or father.
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whether she was raised at your home or distant from you
This can be translated in active form. AT: "whether she grew up at your home or far away from you" (See: Active or Passive)
Do not sleep with your father's wife's daughter
Possible meanings are 1) "Do not sleep with your half-sister" or 2) "Do not sleep with your stepsister." Here the man does not have the same father or mother as the woman. They became brother and sister when their parents married.
translationWords
had relations with
raise
shame
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 18:9 Sexual relations with a full sister dishonored both…
18:9 Sexual relations with a full sister dishonored both parents, and relations with a half sister dishonored one parent.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.