‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness.
- KJV Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.
- BSB You must not approach a woman to have sexual relations with her during her menstrual period.
- NKJV ‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is in her customary impurity.
- NLT “Do not have sexual relations with a woman during her period of menstrual impurity.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A man must not have relations with a woman during her menstrual uncleanness.
Overview
This law connects the sexual ethics of the chapter to the broader purity laws of Leviticus regarding bodily discharges. It taught Israel restraint and reverence for the rhythms of life God ordained. Such commands cultivated a holy regard for the body and for the boundaries God set within marriage.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Lev 20:18“‘If a man lies with a woman having her monthly period, and uncovers her nakedness; he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
- Lev 15:24“‘If any man lies with her, and her monthly flow is on him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed whereon he lies shall be unclean.
- Ezek 22:10In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.
- Lev 15:19“‘If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.
- Ezek 18:6and has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor’s wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity,
- Lev 12:2“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a woman conceives, and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her monthly period she shall be unclean.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 18:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.