“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.
Parallel translations
- KJV The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.
- BSB You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.
- NKJV The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.
- NASB You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.
- NLT “Do not have sexual relations with any of your father’s wives, for this would violate your father.
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
Relations with one's father's wife are forbidden as a violation of the father.
Overview
This protects the marriage bond of one's parents, treating an offense against the father's wife as an offense against the father himself. It guards the integrity of the family from internal corruption. Paul later confronts a case of this very sin in the Corinthian church, showing the enduring moral force of the principle.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Lev 20:11“‘The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
- 1 Cor 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
- Deut 27:20‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- Deut 22:30A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.
- Amos 2:7They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
- Gen 49:4Boiling over like water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
- Gen 35:22While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
- Ezek 22:10In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.
- 2 Sam 16:21–22Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:8 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.