Leviticus - 18:13



13 "'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister: for she is your mother's near kinswoman.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Leviticus 18:13.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: because she is thy mother's flesh.
The nakedness of thy mother's sister shalt thou not uncover; for she is thy mother's near relation.
The nakedness of thy mother's sister thou dost not uncover; for she is thy mother's relation.
You may not have sex connection with your mother's sister, for she is your mother's near relation.
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, because she is the flesh of your mother.
Turpitudinem sororis matris tuae non revelabis, nam consanguinea matris tuae est.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister,.... Which is the same relation as before, an aunt by the mother's side; wherefore, if such a marriage was unlawful, this must also, and for the same reason:
for she is thy mother's near kinswoman; the same phraseology is used here as in the preceding verse; See Gill on Leviticus 18:12; and by the same rule a woman might not marry her uncle, whether by father or mother's side, the relation being the same, and this reaches to great-uncle and great-aunt; instances of women marrying their uncles, and men their aunts, among the Heathens, have been given, as among the Persians and Lacedaemonians by Herodotus (l), and among the Romans by Tacitus (m), but were, in his time, new things with the latter.
(l) Erato, sive, l. 6. c. 71. Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 224, 239. (m) Annal. l. 12. c. 5, 6, 7.

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