Leviticus - 18:19



19 "'You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Leviticus 18:19.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.
Thou shalt not approach to a woman having her flowers, neither shalt thou uncover her nakedness.
And thou shalt not approach a woman in the separation of her uncleanness to uncover her nakedness.
And you may not go near a woman or have sex relations with her when she is unclean, at her regular time.
You shall not approach a woman who is undergoing menstruation, nor shall you uncover her foulness.
Ad mulierem in segregatione immunditiae suae non accedes, revelando turpitudinem ejus.

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


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

As long as she is put apart - See Clarke's note on Leviticus 15:24.

Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put (k) apart for her uncleanness.
(k) Or while she has her period.

Also thou shall not approach unto a woman,.... Not even a man to his own wife, and much less to another woman:
to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness; in her monthly courses; and the time of her separation from her husband on that account was seven days, Leviticus 15:19; if a man lay with a woman when in such circumstances, they were both to be cut off from their people, Leviticus 20:18; and such an action is reckoned among sins, and uncleanness of the worst sort, Ezekiel 22:10.

Prohibition of other kinds of unchastity and of unnatural crimes. - Leviticus 18:19 prohibits intercourse with a woman during her uncleanness. טמאה נדּת signifies the uncleanness of a woman's hemorrhage, whether menstruation or after childbirth, which is called in Leviticus 12:7; Leviticus 20:18, the fountain of bleeding. The guilty persons were both of them to be cut off from their nation according to Leviticus 20:18, i.e., to be punished with death.

As long as she is set apart - No not to thy own wife. This was not only a ceremonial pollution, but an immorality also, whence it is put amongst gross sins, Ezekiel 18:6. And therefore it is now unlawful under the gospel.

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