Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 27:23
‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembled Israelites at the foot of Mount Ebal, pronouncing a formal list of covenant curses. The congregation responds to each declaration with a unified corporate affirmation.
The words — אָר֕וּר ('a.Rur) translates literally as “[is] cursed,” establishing a divine verdict. שֹׁכֵ֖ב (sho.Khev) means “[one who] lies,” specifying the sexual act that triggers the condemnation.
The thread — The text lists this prohibition alongside other familial boundary violations, with Leviticus 18:17 and Leviticus 20:14 addressing related sexual prohibitions within the same covenant code. The repeated formula “And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’” appears in Deuteronomy 27:22 and 27:24.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to recognize the structural function of communal ratification in covenant law. It establishes that boundary violations are not private matters but public breaches that demand collective acknowledgment and condemnation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 20:14 If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that there will be no depravity among you.
- Leviticus 18:17 You must not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved.