King James Version
Leviticus 18
30 verses with commentary
Unlawful Sexual Relations
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>Every sacrifice and ritual in Leviticus points forward to Jesus Christ, who fulfills the entire sacrificial system as both...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XVIII.
(1) **And the Lord spake unto Moses.**—Unlike the preceding Divine communications, which treated of the ritual and ceremonial pollutions, the enactments which Moses is here commanded to communicate direct to the children of Israel, or their representatives, the elders, affect their moral life—precepts which form the basis of domestic purity, and which are the foundation of human happiness.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21-32. if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb--**a kind and considerate provision for an extension of the privilege to lepers of the poorer class. The blood of their smaller offering was to be applied in the same process of purification and they were as publicly and completely cleansed as those who brought a costlier offering (Ac 10:34).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>Every sacrifice and ritual in Leviticus points forward to Jesus Christ, who fulfill...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **I am the Lord your God.**—The Lord is their recognised and sole sovereign, the children of Israel are therefore bound to obey His precepts, and not be led astray by the customs or statutes which prevailed among the people whose country they are to possess. Moreover, as He is holy, the Israelites, by faithfully obeying His sacred laws, will attain to that holiness which will bring them in com...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and p...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **After the doings of the land of Egypt.**—During their sojourn in Egypt the Israelites became familiar with the practices which obtained in the land of their bondage, and as they adopted some of them (see Leviticus 17:7), they are here solemnly warned to eschew those which are especially proscribed in the sequel.
**And after the doings of the land of Canaan. **The danger of imitating the cust...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>What Leviticus portrayed through types and shadows, Christ fulfilled...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Ye shall do my judgments.**—The expression “my judgments and mine ordinances” is here used emphatically, in opposition to “their ordinances,” and has here the force of *Mine only; *just as the phrase “Him shalt thou serve” (Deuteronomy 6:13) is explained by Christ “Him *only *shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>What Leviticus portrayed through types and shadow...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Ye shall therefore keep my statutes. **Better, *and ye shall keep my ordinances. *The word here rendered by “statutes” is the same which the Authorised Version translates *ordinances *in Leviticus 18:3-4.
**He shall live in them.**—Better, *he shall live by *or *through them; *that is, by observing them the law abiding will live a happy and prosperous life, since disobedience will expose the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. near: Heb. remainder of his flesh
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The New Testament reveals that Christ's sacrifice accomp...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **None of you shall approach.**—Literally, *man, man, ye shall not approach. *It is part of the phrase used in Leviticus 17:3; Leviticus 17:8; Leviticus 17:13, and should accordingly be rendered by *no man whatsoever shall approach. *The absence of the words “of the house of Israel,” which, in the other instances, form part of this phrase, as we are assured by the authorities in the time of Ch...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The access to God's...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother.**—The rendering of the Authorised Version is based upon the interpretation which obtained during the second Temple, according to which this injunction is addressed both to the daughter and the son. The daughter must not marry or have commerce with the father, nor the son with the mother. Hence the Chaldee Version of Jonathan transl...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The access to God's presence that Leviticus carefully regulated is now f...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **The nakedness of thy father’s wife.**—Whilst the former prohibition refers to the son’s own mother, this law is directed against illicit commerce with his stepmother. Here we have an instance where the phrase “to uncover the nakedness” denotes both illicit commerce and incestuous marriage. Accordingly the administrators of the law during the second Temple defined it as follows; a man’s fathe...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **The nakedness of thy sister.**—The fact that Adam married “bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh,” and that his sons married their own sisters, encouraged the ancient Hebrew to imitate their example. Hence we find Abraham, the father of the faithful, married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). The same practice obtained amongst other nations of antiquity. Thus the Athenians married their half...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for their's is thine own nakedness.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The New Test...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **The nakedness of thy son’s daughter**. From this prohibition it is inferred that a man must not marry his own daughter. If a granddaughter, who is a degree further removed from him, is proscribed, how much more his own daughter. Hence the canonical law during the second Temple deduced from this passage that “whoso companieth with a woman, even by way of fornication, and begetteth a daughter...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The access to God's presence that...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Thy father’s wife’s daughter.**—If this clause stood alone it would denote the daughter of a man’s stepmother by another or previous husband, since “father’s wife” in Hebrew always denotes *stepmother *(see Leviticus 18:8, Leviticus 20:11; Deuteronomy 23:1, Deut. 26:20), in which case the man and the maiden, though no blood relations at all, would be forbidden to each other by virtue of the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: she is thy father's near kinswoman.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: she is thy father's near kinswoman.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>Every sacrifice and ritual in Leviticus points forward to Jesus ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Thy father’s sister.**—According to the law which obtained in the time of Christ this prohibition not only extended to the father’s half-sisters, but even when they were begotten by the grandfather illegitimately. It is remarkable that Moses himself was the offspring of such an alliance, since his father Amram married his own aunt Jochebed, who was the sister of his father. (See Exodus 6:20...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: for she is thy mother's near kinswoman.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: for she is thy mother's near kinswoman.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>What Leviticus portrayed through types and shadows, Christ f...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Thy mother’s sister.**—Equally forbidden is the aunt by the mother’s side. The law which obtained in the time of Christ also defines this prohibition to extend to a mother’s sister or half-sister by the same father or mother, whether born in wedlock or out of it. It is remarkable that the administrators of the law during the second Temple understood this last prohibition strictly to apply t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>What Leviticus portrayed through types and ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife.**—That is, according to the ancient legal interpretation, a nephew is to have no commerce with her during her husband’s lifetime, nor marry her when his uncle is dead. Those who transgressed this law had not only to bear their sin, but were doomed to die without issue. (See Leviticus 20:20.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>Hebrews 9-10 explains how Christ's once...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Thy daughter-in-law.**—The legislators in the time of Christ defined this prohibition as applicable not only to cases where marriage between them had actually been consummated, but to cases where the maiden had only been espoused, or when the daughter-in-law had been divorced by the son, or had become a widow. For an offence of this kind both parties were punished with death. (See Leviticus...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The holiness demanded in Leviticus becomes possible through Christ, wh...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **The nakedness of thy brother’s wife.**—Though alliance with a brother’s wife is here forbidden—the prohibition, according to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, extending to illicit commerce or marriage in case she is divorced from her husband during the lifetime of her husband—and though the offenders are threatened with the curse of childlessness (see Leviticus 20:21),...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **A woman and her daughter.**—That is, if a man marries a widow who has a daughter by a former husband, or if he forms an alliance with a woman who has a daughter out of wedlock, he is forbidden to marry also the daughter. But though this prohibition is directed against a peculiar form of polygamy. there can hardly be any doubt that, as the administrators of the law during the second Temple i...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time. a wife: or, one wife to another
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>Every sacrifice and ritual in Leviticus po...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **A wife to her sister.**—That is, a man is here forbidden to take a second sister for a wife to or in addition to the one who is already his wife, and who is still alive. This clause therefore forbids the Jews, who were permitted to have several wives, a particular kind of polygamy, i.e., a plurality of sisters. According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, the express...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br>Ritual purity laws taught Israel to distinguish ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Also thou shalt not approach.**—Literally, *thou shalt not approach. *The marriage laws are now followed by sexual impurities, which to some extent are suggested by the subjects that had necessarily to be discussed or hinted at in regulating the alliance in question.
**As long as she is put apart.**—Put apart, *i.e., *seven days. (See Leviticus 15:19.) For consorting with her without being ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The holiness demanded in Leviticus becomes possible through Christ, w...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Thy neighbour’s wife.**—For committing adultery, which is here branded as a defilement, whether with a betrothed or married woman, both guilty parties incurred the penalty of death by stoning. (See Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22; Ezekiel 16:38; Ezekiel 16:40; John 8:5.) In Egypt the adulterer received a thousand strokes with a stick, and the guilty woman had her nose cut off, and to thi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Molech: Gr. Moloch
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The New Testament reveals ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **And thou shalt not let any of thy seed.**—Literally, *And thou shalt not give any of thy seed. *Those who violate the sanctity of the marriage ties will readily sacrifice their children. Hence the prohibition to offer up their children to idols follows the law about unchastity.
**Pass through the fire to Molech.**—Literally, *to let it pass to Molech, *that is, to put the child into the han...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The holiness demanded in Leviticus becomes possible through Christ, who both satisfies God...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **As with womankind.**—This was the sin of Sodom (Genesis 19:5), whence it derived its name, and in spite of the penalty of death enacted by the Law against those who were found guilty of it (see Leviticus 20:13), the Israelites did not quite relinquish this abominable vice (Judges 19:22; 1Kings 14:24), to which the surrounding nations were addicted and which was so prevalent in the time of t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The holines...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **Any beast.**—The necessity for the prohibition of this shocking crime, for which the Mosaic law enacts the penalty of death (see Leviticus 20:15-16; Exodus 22:18), will appear all the more important when it is borne in mind that this degrading practice actually formed a part of the religious worship of the Egyptians in connection with the goat deities.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The New Testament reveals that Christ's sa...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **Defile not ye yourselves.**—The Lawgiver who solemnly introduced these precepts by five verses of preamble at the beginning of the chapter (Leviticus 18:1-5), now concludes by an equally solemn appeal to God’s people sacredly to observe them in all their integrity, since the violation of them (Leviticus 18:6-23) has branded those nations with infamy, and brought about their national destruc...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>Every sacrifice and ritual in Levit...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **The land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.**—From the creation the earth shared in the punishment of man’s guilt (Genesis 3:17), and at the restitution of all things she is to participate in his restoration (Romans 8:19-22). The physical condition of the land, therefore, depends upon the moral conduct of man. When he disobeys God’s commandments she is parched up and does not yield her fr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanc...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **Ye shall therefore keep my statutes.**—As the perpetration of the above named abominations entailed such disastrous consequences both to the land and to its inhabitants, the strict observance of the Divine statutes is enjoined upon all alike, whether they be Israelites by race or strangers who took up their abode amongst them and joined the Jewish community. (See Leviticus 17:9.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34-48. leprosy in a house--**This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>Hebrews 9-10 explains how Christ's once-for-all sacri...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **For all these abominations.**—Though the contents of this verse are substantially the same as those in Leviticus 18:24-25, yet the wording is different. In the former the Israelites are exhorted not *to pollute *themselves as the different tribes or nations have both polluted themselves and the land, whilst here *the inhabitants of Canaan *are more specifically described as having *practise...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>The access to God's presence that Leviticus carefully r...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **That the land spue not you out also.**—Better, *Lest the land vomit you out. *By unnecessarily translating the same word differently into “vomiteth” in Leviticus 18:25, and “spue” here, as is done in the Authorised Version, the striking connection between the two verses is somewhat weakened.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and protecting family sanctity.<br><br><br>What Leviticus portrayed through ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) F**or whosoever shall commit.**—This clause, according to the interpretation which obtained during the second Temple, particularises every individual, and is intended to indicate that any one, whether it be male or female, who is guilty, will incur the punishment prescribed for these sins.
**Shall be cut off.**—That is, in case the transgression escapes the ken of the tribunal, God himself wi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 15 Le 15:1-18. Uncleanness of Men.
**2. When any man hath a running issue--**This chapter describes other forms of uncleanness, the nature of which is sufficiently intelligible in the text without any explanatory comment. Being the effects of licentiousness, they properly come within the notice of the legislator, and the very stringent rules here prescribed, both for the separation of the...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.</strong><br><br>This verse falls within the section on <strong>Unlawful Sexual Relations</strong>. Prohibitions against various sexual sins, distinguishing Israel from Canaanite practices and prot...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(30) **Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance. **As God is no respecter of persons, and as He will assuredly visit His own people with the same punishment which He inflicted upon the former occupants of the laud, the Israelites are to take special care to keep inviolate His ordinances.
**Commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you. **Better, *Do not any one of t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 18
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
--Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross s...
Read full commentary →