Leviticus 15:18

15:18 When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and there is a seminal emission, they must bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

Leviticus 15:33

15:33 the one who is sick in her menstruation, the one with a discharge, whether male or female, and a man who has sexual intercourse with an unclean woman.’”

Leviticus 18:14

18:14 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not approach his wife to have sexual intercourse with her. She is your aunt.

Leviticus 18:18

18:18 You must not take a woman in marriage and then marry her sister as a rival wife while she is still alive, to have sexual intercourse with her.

Leviticus 20:15

20:15 If a man has sexual intercourse with any animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal.

Leviticus 20:20-21

20:20 If a man has sexual intercourse with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness; they must bear responsibility for their sin, they will die childless. 20:21 If a man has sexual intercourse with his brother’s wife, it is indecency. He has exposed his brother’s nakedness; 10  they will be childless.

Leviticus 18:9

18:9 You must not have sexual intercourse with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, 11  whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; 12  you must not have sexual intercourse with either of them. 13 

Leviticus 18:17

18:17 You must not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse with them. 14  They are closely related to her 15  – it is lewdness. 16 

Leviticus 15:24

15:24 and if a man actually has sexual intercourse with her so that her menstrual impurity touches him, 17  then he will be unclean seven days and any bed he lies on will be unclean.

Leviticus 18:10

18:10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual intercourse with them, because they are your own nakedness. 18 

Leviticus 20:11-12

20:11 If a man has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. 19  Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 20  20:12 If a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed perversion; 21  their blood guilt is on themselves.

Leviticus 20:14

20:14 If a man has sexual intercourse with both a woman and her mother, 22  it is lewdness. 23  Both he and they must be burned to death, 24  so there is no lewdness in your midst.

Leviticus 20:16

20:16 If a woman approaches any animal to have sexual intercourse with it, 25  you must kill the woman, and the animal must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.


tn Heb “And a woman who a man lies with her a lying of seed.”

tn Heb “and the one with a discharge, his discharge to the male and the female.”

tn Heb “and for a man.”

tn Heb “you must not draw near to his wife.” In the context this refers to approaching one’s aunt to have sexual intercourse with her, so this has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn As in v. 12 (see the note there), some mss and versions have “because she is your aunt.”

tn Or “as a concubine”; Heb “And a woman to her sister you shall not take to be a second wife [or “to be a concubine”].” According to HALOT 1059 s.v. III צרר, the infinitive “to be a second wife” (לִצְרֹר, litsror) is a denominative verb from II צָרָה A (“concubine; second wife”), which, in turn, derives from II צר “to treat with hostility” (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 283, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 122).

tn Heb “on her in her life.”

tn See the note on Lev 18:20 above.

tn Heb “takes.” The verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”

10 sn See the note on Lev 18:7 above.

11 tn Heb “the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother.”

12 tn Heb “born of house or born of outside.” CEV interprets as “whether you grew up together or not” (cf. also TEV, NLT).

13 tc Several medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Syriac have “her nakedness” rather than “their nakedness,” thus agreeing with singular “sister” at the beginning of the verse.

tn For a smooth English translation “either of” was added.

14 tn Heb “You must not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter; the daughter of her son and the daughter of her daughter you must not take to uncover her nakedness.” Translating “her” as “them” provides consistency in the English. In this kind of context, “take” means to “take in marriage” (cf. also v. 18). The LXX and Syriac have “their nakedness,” referring to the nakedness of the woman’s granddaughters, rather than the nakedness of the woman herself.

15 tc Heb “they are her flesh.” The LXX reads “your” here (followed by NRSV). If the LXX reading were followed by the present translation, the result would be “They are closely related to you.”

16 tn The term rendered “lewdness” almost always carries a connotation of cunning, evil device, and divisiveness (cf. HALOT 272 s.v. I זִמָּה 2, “infamy”), and is closely associated with sexual and religious infidelity (cf., e.g., Lev 19:29; 20:14; Job 31:11; Jer 13:27; Ezek 16:27; 22:9). Recent English versions differ on how they handle this: NAB “would be shameful”; CEV “would make you unclean”; NIV “wickedness”; NLT “horrible wickedness”; NRSV “depravity”; TEV “incest.”

17 tn Heb “and if a man indeed lies with her and her menstrual impurity is on him.”

18 sn That is, to have sexual intercourse with one’s granddaughter would be like openly exposing one’s own shameful nakedness (see the note on v. 7 above).

19 sn See the note on Lev 18:7 above.

20 tn See the note on v. 9 above.

21 tn The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל (tevel, “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” (cf. KJV, ASV “they have wrought confusion”).

22 tn Heb “And a man who takes a woman and her mother.” The Hebrew verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”

23 tn Regarding “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.

24 tn Heb “in fire they shall burn him and them.” The active plural verb sometimes requires a passive translation (GKC 460 §144.f, g), esp. when no active plural subject has been expressed in the context. The present translation specifies “burned to death” because the traditional rendering “burnt with fire” (KJV, ASV; NASB “burned with fire”) could be understood to mean “branded” or otherwise burned, but not fatally.

25 tn Heb “to copulate with it” (cf. Lev 20:16).