Leviticus 20:21

Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite community in the wilderness, delivering judicial statutes immediately after the preceding judgment concerning a man who lies with his uncle’s wife.

The words — The text labels the union נִדָּה (nidah), literally “impurity,” and states the man has uncovered the nakedness of his brother, resulting in a childless outcome.

The thread — This rule parallels Leviticus 18:16, which forbids relations with a brother’s wife to prevent shaming him, and surfaces in Matthew 14:3, which records that Herodias was the wife of his brother Philip.

Why it lands — The passage requires readers to observe strict kinship boundaries in marriage and accept childlessness as the direct consequence of crossing them.

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.