Bible Strands
Leviticus 18:9
You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Addressed to the assembled community, the verse functions as a boundary marker positioned directly after the prohibition regarding a father’s wife and before the prohibition concerning a granddaughter.
The words — The text employs עֶרְוַת ('er.Vat) for "nakedness" and מוֹלֶדֶת (mo.Le.det) for "one born of," defining the prohibited relationship strictly by birth lineage rather than shared household residence.
The thread — This prohibition recurs in Leviticus 20:17 as a punishable offense, is declared a curse in Deuteronomy 27:22, and is listed among other sexual defilements in Ezekiel 22:11.
Why it lands — The text demands the reader distinguish prohibited kinship ties by direct descent, explicitly covering both paternal and maternal lines regardless of where the siblings were raised.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 20:17 If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.
- Deuteronomy 27:22 ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Ezekiel 22:11 One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.
- 2 Samuel 13:11 And when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, “Come lie with me, my sister!”
- Leviticus 18:11 You must not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.