Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text addresses the Israelite assembly through Moses, delivering a judicial ruling immediately after the statute on bestiality and before the law on menstruation. It functions as a binding legal decree within the wilderness covenant community.
The words — יִקַּח (yi.Kach) literally means "he will take," denoting the act of marriage or union. אֲחֹתוֹ ('a.cho.T/o) translates literally to "his sister," specifying the exact kinship relation prohibited.
The thread — The prohibition repeats in Leviticus 18:9 and is reinforced by the curse in Deuteronomy 27:22. Genesis 20:12 records a historical half-sibling marriage that later falls under this regulation.
Why it lands — The text states that sibling sexual relations constitute a public disgrace requiring communal cutoff. It requires readers to treat kinship boundaries as fixed legal limits that demand immediate social and ritual separation.
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
And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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!’
- Genesis 20:12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.
- 2 Samuel 13:12 “No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing!
- 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.