Leviticus 20:18

If a man lies with a menstruating woman and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from among their people.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — God addresses Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness, delivering covenant laws that follow the incest prohibitions of Leviticus 20:17 and 20:19. The command targets specific sexual acts that breach communal and ritual boundaries.

The words — The Hebrew word דּוֹוָה (da.Vah) literally means menstruating, while גִּלָּה (gi.Lah) means to uncover or expose. The text uses these terms to describe the physical act of sexual contact during menstruation as a ritual exposure of blood.

The thread — This restriction aligns with the impurity regulations in Leviticus 15:24 and the direct prohibition in Leviticus 18:19. Ezekiel 18:6 later lists abstaining from such relations as a defining trait of righteous conduct.

Why it lands — The text mandates that both participants be cut off from their people. It requires the community to enforce strict sexual boundaries as a condition of covenant membership.

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 lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

Cross-references

Leviticus 15:24 If a man lies with her and her menstrual flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days, and any bed on which he lies will become unclean.
Leviticus 18:19 You must not approach a woman to have sexual relations with her during her menstrual period.
Ezekiel 18:6 He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her period.
Ezekiel 22:10 In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.