Leviticus 18:16-19 New English Translation
16 You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness.[a] 17 You must not have sexual relations 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 sexual relations with them.[b] They are closely related to her[c]—it is lewdness.[d] 18 You must not take a woman in marriage and then marry her sister as a rival wife[e] while she is still alive,[f] to have sexual relations with her.
19 “‘You must not approach a woman in her menstrual impurity[g] to have sexual relations with her.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Leviticus 18:16 sn Regarding the last clause, see the notes on vv. 7 and 10 above.
- Leviticus 18:17 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.
- Leviticus 18:17 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.”
- Leviticus 18:17 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.”
- Leviticus 18:18 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).
- Leviticus 18:18 tn Heb “on her in her life.”
- Leviticus 18:19 tn Heb “in the menstruation of her impurity”; NIV “during the uncleanness of her monthly period.”
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.