“ ‘He shall take a wife in her virginity.
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘He shall take a wife in her virginity.
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And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
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And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Leviticus 21:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 21:7 “ ‘They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute, or profane. A priest shall not marry a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God.
- Ezekiel 44:22 They shall not take for their wives a widow, or her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.
- 2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
- Revelation 14:4 These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 21:13 And he shall take a wife in…
Lev 21:13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
Ver. 13. In her virginity.] Such is Christ’s wife, {2Co 11:1-33 : 2Ki 14:4 Mat 25:1-13} not giving her love, or his worship to any other.
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 Or, a virgin, partly for the decency of the…
Or, a virgin, partly for the decency of the type, because as he was a type of Christ, so his wife was a type of the church, which is compared to a virgin, 2Co 11:2; Rev 14:4; and partly for greater caution and assurance that his wife was not a defiled or defloured person. This and the following rule belong not to all the priests, for then this were a gross tautology, these same things, or most of them, being expressly forbidden to them, Lev 21:7, but only to the high priest, to show that he also, and he especially, is obliged to the same cautions.
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 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.…
And he shall take a wife in her virginity. One, and not two, or more, as Ben Gersom observes; and so Maimonides says (q), an high priest might never take two women together; for it is said, "a wife", or "woman", one, and not two; and so it is explained in the Talmud (r); for though polygamy was practised by the Israelites, and even by the common priests, yet these writers suppose it was by no means allowed to an high priest: among the Egyptians, though they took as many wives as they pleased, their priests, married but one (s); and so a minister of the New Testament is to be the husband of one wife, Ti1 3:2; and this wife the high priest was to take was to be a "virgin", one that not only had never known a man, but that was never betrothed to any; yea, according to the Talmudists (t), who was not quite ripe for marriage, or the time of her puberty not fully completed, which was the age of twelve years; within, or somewhat before that time, the high priest was to marry her, that it might be out of all doubt that she was a pure virgin; since it is said, "in her virginity", within the time of her puberty, before it was quite up; this, by many, is thought to be an emblem of Christ and his church; as he was typified by the high priest, so the church by the virgin he married, which is espoused to Christ as a chaste virgin, Co2 11:2.
(q) Hilchot Issure Biah, c. 17. sect. 13. (r) T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 59. 1. (s) Diodor. Sicul. l. 1. p. 72. (t) T. Bab. Yebamot, ibid. Maimon. ut supra. (Cele Hamikdash, c. 5. sect. 5, 6.)
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain In her virginity - Or, a virgin, partly because…
In her virginity - Or, a virgin, partly because as he was a type of Christ, so his wife was a type of the church, which is compared to a virgin, and partly for greater caution and assurance that his wife was not a defiled or deflowered person. Most of these things are forbidden to all the priests; and here to the high-priest, to shew that he also, and he especially is obliged to the same cautions.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. He shall take a wife in her…
Verse 13. He shall take a wife in her virginity.] בתוליה bethuleyha. This is a full proof that בתולה bethulah is the proper Hebrew term for a virgin; from the emphatic root בתל bathal, to separate; because such a person was in her separate state, and had never been in any way united to man.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Lev 21:13. In her virginity — Or, a virgin,…
Lev 21:13. In her virginity — Or, a virgin, partly because, as he was a type of Christ, so his wife was a type of the church, which is compared to a virgin; and partly for greater caution and assurance that his wife was not a defiled or deflowered person. Most of these things are forbidden to all the priests; and here to the high-priest, to show that he also, and he especially, is obliged to the same cautions.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Wife. Josephus says he could not divorce her. The…
Wife. Josephus says he could not divorce her. The Rabbins allow him only one wife at a time. It is said that Joiada had two. But that might be successively; and it is not certain that he was the high priest; (2 Paralipomenon xxiv. 3.; Calmet) though he has that title in the Vulgate, 2 Paralipomenon xxii. 11. (Haydock) --- His wife must be an Isrealite. The Septuagint intimates, "of his own race." But this is denied by others. He could not marry his brother’s widow, (Selden) nor a girl under twelve and a half. "The Egyptian priests marry only one, while others have as many wives as they please." (Diodorus i.) (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 13, 14.
13, 14.
A wife in her virginity — The high priest’s range of choice is made narrower than the priest’s by the elimination of the widows and non-Israelites. His marriage with a virgin beautifully sets forth the character of the Church of Christ espoused unto her Lord as a “chaste virgin.” See 2Co_11:2. Hindoo priests can marry only virgins. This law was probably borrowed from Judaism. If the Hebrew high priest married outside of the prescribed limits, he profaned his seed, or disqualified his sons for the priesthood. This penalty was sufficient to deter the high priest, or the candidates for this office, from violation of this precept.
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 (13) A wife in her virginity.—From this verse the…
(13) A wife in her virginity.—From this verse the administrators of the Law during the second Temple concluded that (1) the high priest must be the husband of one wife, though the ordinary priests might have several; (2) that she must be a virgin, under the age of thirteen; (3) that she must not even have been betrothed to another person; and that (4) she must be the daughter of Jewish parents by race, as it is stated in the next verse, though the ordinary priest was allowed to marry the daughter of proselytes. The first of these enactments is also enjoined by St. Paul on Christian bishops (1Ti_3:2; Tit_1:16); whilst the fourth is actually expressed in the Greek version (LXX.), which has at the end of the verse, “of his own race.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Wives of Priests; Blemishes
Wives of Priests; Blemishes
v. 13. And he shall take a wife in her virginity, a pure virgin.
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v. 14. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, a fallen woman, or an harlot, these shall he not take,
v. 7. but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife, a daughter of Israel.
v. 15. Neither shall he profane his seed among his people by being joined in wedlock in a way which would not harmonize with the sanctity of his position; for I, the Lord, do sanctify him.
v. 16. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
v. 17. Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations, among all his coming descendants, that hath any blemish, any bodily defect, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God, the sacrifices in general, for these culminated in the showbread.
v. 18. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, misshapen or slit, or anything superfluous, abnormal members of the body,
v. 19. or a man that is broken-footed, that has broken-down arches, or broken-handed,
v. 20. or crookbacked, one that has a hump, or a dwarf, one that is abnormally slender, or that hath a blemish in his eye, that is, a white spot conspicuous enough to draw attention, or be scurvy, affected with a growth which resembled leprosy,or scabbed, with a disfiguring skin-disease, or hath his stones broken, affected with a disease of the sexual organs;
v. 21. no man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron, the priest, shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire; he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God, he was excluded from the characteristic work of the priesthood.
v. 22. He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, Lev 2:3, and of the holy, of the wave-breast and of the heave-shoulder, of first-fruits, tithes, and gifts. This compassionate provision compensated, in a way, for the exclusion of these men from active service in the Sanctuary.
v. 23. Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, he shall not discharge the official functions of the high priest or of the priests, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not My sanctuaries; for I, the Lord, do sanctify them.
v. 24. And Moses told it unto Aaron and to his sons and unto all the children of Israel; for the entire congregation was interested in the observance of these ordinances. In the New Testament the congregation of the believers is even more interested in the keeping of God’s ordinances, because the discrimination between a special priesthood and a laity no longer exists, and every member is responsible for matters of doctrine and of life.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 from his own people
from his own people
"from among his own tribe, the tribe of Levi"
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he will not defile his children among his people
By marrying an unholy or ungodly woman, the priest would have children unworthy to be priest. AT: "that he will not have unworthy children by marrying an ungodly woman" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
virgin
divorce
prostitute
kind
obey
defile
children
holy
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.