Leviticus 18:17

Lev 18:17 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.

Ver. 17. It is wickedness.] Wickedness with a witness; and yet avowed for lawful by some odious upstart sectaries, who teach that those marriages are most laudable that are betwixt persons nearest in blood, brother and sister, father and daughter, mother and son, &c. This they shame not to set forth in print. {a}

{a} Hist. Davidis Georg., pp. 28, 29; Little Non-such, pp. 5-7.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 18:17. A woman and her daughter — If a man married a widow that had a daughter, he was not allowed to marry this daughter, either while the mother was alive or after her death.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18:17 As with all examples listed in ch 18, marrying a woman together with her daughter or granddaughter was prohibited because of the disruption it would cause in the family order. It would violate the intimacy of the family group by forcing a wife to compete for her husband’s affections against a much younger woman. The penalty for this act was death by burning (20:14).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(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 interpreted it, if he married either of them and she died, he could not marry the other any more, and that this prohibition did not apply to cases of illicit commerce. Criminal intercourse with one did not preclude him from marrying the other. For contracting the kind of polygamy here forbidden, the offenders were punished with death by fire. (See Lev_20:14.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter,.... That is, if a man marries a woman, and she has a daughter, which is the man's daughter-in-law, after the death of his wife he may not marry this daughter; for this daughter is of the same flesh with her mother, who became one flesh with the man she married, and therefore his relation to her daughter is too near to marry her: Jarchi says, if he does not marry the woman, but only deflower her, it is free for him to marry her daughter; but Aben Ezra says, if he has lain with the mother, the daughter is forbidden; however, if he married either of them, the other was forbidden; he could not marry them both, neither in the lifetime of them both, nor after the death of either of them:

neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; not any of her granddaughters, either in the line of her son or daughter; that is, might not lie with either of them, or marry them, and much less then marry her own daughter, these being a further remove from her:

for they are her near kinswomen; one or other of them, even every one of them, "the rest" and residue "of her" (r), of her flesh, who together made one flesh with her; and therefore not to be married to her husband, either in her life, or after her death:

it is wickedness: a very great wickedness, abominable in the sight of God, and to be detested by man as vile and impious; it is whoredom, as the Targum of Jonathan renders it.

(r) "reliquiae sunt ipsae", Tigurine version.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Daughter, together, or successively; even if she were the child of another husband. --- Incest. Hebrew, "a crime." Aquila, "an abomination." Septuagint, "an impiety."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Of a woman and her daughter, to wit, thy step-daughter, and so thy step-son’s daughter, &c.

It is wickedness; because they are very near to thy wife by consanguinity, as coming directly from her; and therefore they are as near to thee by affinity, which binds as much as consanguinity; the wife, who is only related by affinity, being nearer to a man than any other by consanguinity, they two being made one flesh, and therefore the same distance is to be observed in both of them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. A woman and her daughter — This verse prohibits the successive marriage of a man with a woman and her daughter or granddaughter on account of their near blood relationship.

Wickedness — This word zimmah is elsewhere generally translated lewdness, and signifies a gross violation of decency or principle.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The ninth form of incest prohibited is intercourse with a stepdaughter, or step-granddaughter, or mother-in-law. The expression made use of, Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, covers the case of a man"s own daughter, and it is singular that it is only in this incidental manner that it is specifically named. But it has been already disposed of by the general command, None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness.

The daughter being nearest of kin, this command was sufficient without further specification. The niece and probably the wife"s sister are forbidden by the same general rule (see following note).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Marriage with a woman and her daughter, whether both together or in succession, is described in Deu 27:20 as an accursed lying with the mother-in-law; whereas here it is the relation to the step-daughter which is primarily referred to, as we may see from the parallel prohibition, which is added, against taking the daughter of her son or daughter, i.e., the granddaughter-in-law. Both of these were crimes against blood-relationship which were to be punished with death in the case of both parties (Lev 20:14), because they were "wickedness," זמּה, lit., invention, design, here applied to the crime of licentiousness and whoredom (Lev 19:29; Jdg 20:6; Job 31:11).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

translationWords

evil

life

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ערות אשה ובתה THE NAKEDNESS OF A WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTER [THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER] — Scripture forbids this only if the union with the first of these (whether it be the woman or her daughter) came about through a legal marriage. That is why Scripture uses the term לא תקח, the expression employed for "taking to wife in a legal way". Similarly with reference to the punishment for such a union it states, (Leviticus 20:14) "And if a man take (יקח) a wife and her mother, [it is wickedness; they shall be burnt with fire]" — an expression for "taking" to wife in a legal way. But if one has raped a woman he is permitted to marry her daughter (Yevamot 97a).

שארה הנה means, they are closely related to one another.

זמה means, an evil plan, as the Targum renders it‎ עצת חטאין, "a sinful plan"; the term is used because it is your evil inclination which counsels you to sin.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

IT IS ‘ZIMAH’ (LEWDNESS). Onkelos translated: “it is a sinful plan,” and Rashi commented thereon, “because your evil inclination counsels you to sin.” But I know of no sense to this, for with regard to all forbidden relations and all other transgressions, it is the evil inclination that counsels one to sin! [Why then is this verse prohibiting intercourse with a woman and her daughter, singled out by the use of this expression?] But the meaning of the matter is that the term zimah is derived from the expression, as ‘zamam’ (he had purposed) to do unto his brother. A proper thought is called m’zimah, as it said, And no ‘m’zimah’ (purpose) can be withholden from Thee, and lewdness that is thought of in secret is called zimah, similar to that which it is said, If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, 31:9. and Scripture concludes, For that were ‘zimah’ (a heinous crime); yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges., Verse 11. Similarly, ‘v’zimatheich’ (thy lewdness) and thy harlotries; and ‘zimath’ (the lewdness of) thy harlotry, denoting these illicit acts committed in private and in public. In my opinion Scripture states it is ‘zimah’, in the case of [sexual relationships with] a woman and her daughter, and also a woman and her mother, in order to condemn the matter, saying that when one lies with the one, who is his wife, he thinks of the other one on account of their relationship and likeness, and thus lying with both of them is a cause of lewdness to him. This matter is similar to that which the Rabbis have mentioned: “And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against Me. These are the children [who are the offspring] of nine different dispositions [in their parents] etc.” It is for this reason that Scripture states here, the nakedness of a woman and her daughter etc., and similarly it says, And if a man take with his wife also her mother, it is lewdness, and does not say “the nakedness of your wife’s daughter, or your wife’s mother, you shalt not uncover” [but rather mentions them in each case together, by saying: the nakedness of a woman and her mother, or the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, in order to indicate that the prohibition is on account of thinking of the two together]. And the explanation of the verses here is as follows: At the beginning of the section He said, None of you shall approach to any that is ‘sh’eir’ (near of) flesh to him, to uncover their nakedness, thus prohibiting [sexual intercourse with] those who are near of flesh to him, and He stated the reason for this to be, for theirs is thine own nakedness, Verse 10. and so now [in Verse 17 before us] where He prohibits the wife’s relations, He states ‘sha’arah heinah’ (they are near kinswomen), meaning to say that they are also forbidden because they [the women] are near of flesh to each other, and lying with both of them would be lewdness, as I have explained. Similarly Scripture states, and each hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law, meaning that he defiled her to her husband, for even when she will be with her husband, she will think of his father because of their likeness. Now Scripture calls lying with animals tevel hu, denoting [as Rashi explained] “the mingling [from the root balal] of the human semen with that of the animal,” and so it also says of lying with a daughter-in-law that they have done ‘tevel,’ meaning that father and son will become joined to her as one person, and she will lie with both of them together in thought.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.