Leviticus 20:11 · Bible study
Leviticus 20:11 Commentary: Death for Uncovering Father's Nakedness
Hebrew · 7 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why does God prescribe the death penalty for a man lying with his father’s wife? This study examines the law’s purpose in protecting family order and holiness.
Research Summary
- Meaning: A man who has sexual relations with his father’s wife, whether his mother or stepmother, commits a capital offense that defiles the family and the community.
- Key words: 'father’s wife' (H0802 + H0001) includes stepmother; 'uncovered nakedness' (H1540 + H6172) is a euphemism for sexual intercourse; 'put to death' (H4191 Hophal) and 'their blood upon them' (H1818) indicate execution by stoning as prescribed penalty.
- Main debate: Whether the death penalty is a timeless moral principle or a civil law limited to ancient Israel’s theocracy.
- Theological theme: God’s holiness requires that family boundaries be protected with the highest sanctions; sin within the covenant community must be purged to prevent defilement.
- Best use: Teaching the seriousness of sexual ethics and God’s design for family, while distinguishing between the Old Testament civil law and the New Covenant’s approach to discipline.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
WEB World English Bible 2000
“‘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 themselves.
KJV King James Version 1769
And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
`And a man who lieth with his father's wife--the nakedness of his father he hath uncovered--both of them are certainly put to death; their blood is on them.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And a man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall certainly be put to death; their blood is upon them.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
If a man lie with his stepmother, and discover the nakedness of his father, let them both be put to death: their blood be upon them.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y cualquiera que se echare con la mujer de su padre, la desnudez de su padre descubrió: ambos han de ser muertos; su sangre será sobre ellos.
Qualquer um que se deitar com a mulher de seu pai terá revelou a nudez de seu pai; ambos serão mortos; seu sangue será sobre eles.
Si un homme couche avec la femme de son père, et découvre ainsi la nudité de son père, cet homme et cette femme seront punis de mort: leur sang retombera sur eux.
Wenn jemand bei seines Vaters Weibe schläft, daß er seines Vater Blöße aufgedeckt hat, die sollen beide des Todes sterben; ihr Blut sei auf ihnen.
En een man, die bij zijns vaders huisvrouw zal gelegen hebben, heeft zijns vaders schaamte ontdekt; zij beiden zullen zekerlijk gedood worden; hun bloed is op hen!
Se uno si giace con la moglie di suo padre, egli scopre la nudità di suo padre; ambedue dovranno esser messi a morte; il loro sangue ricadrà su loro.
Ktobykolwiek też spał z żoną ojca swego, sromotę ojca swego odkrył, śmiercią umrą oboje; krew ich będzie na nich.
Кто ляжет с женою отца своего, тот открыл наготу отца своего: оба они да будут преданы смерти, кровь их на них.
與 繼母 行淫 的，就是羞辱了 他父親，總要 把他們二人 治死，罪 要歸到他們身上。
And the man who has sex relations with his father's wife has put shame on his father: the two of them are to be put to death; their blood will be on them.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Leviticus 20:11
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Leviticus 20:11 enacts the penalty for the sin prohibited in Leviticus 18:8. Calvin notes that Moses 'sanctions the instruction' already given, now backed by the threat of capital punishment rather than mere conscience. The act is a 'capital crime against the law of nature.' Gill expands the scope: 'father’s wife' includes both the man’s own mother and a stepmother, regardless of whether the father is alive or dead, and regardless of betrothal or marriage. Matthew Henry groups this with other sexual offenses that demand death, emphasizing the severity of violating family boundaries. The Cambridge Bible similarly observes that these verses add penalties to the prohibitions of chapter 18. The repeated formula 'their blood shall be upon them', explained by Calvin as meaning the criminals bear sole responsibility for their death, reinforces that the judges should not hesitate to execute justice. All agree that the purpose is to uphold the holiness of Israel and the integrity of the father’s household.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: God forbids a man having sexual relations with his father's wife and commands capital punishment for both parties to preserve the holiness of the family and community.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Applicability of the death penalty today | All Christians affirm that incest with a father’s wife is a grave sin contrary to God’s design for the family. | Some Christians believe the civil penalties of the Mosaic law, including capital punishment, were binding only on Israel as a theocratic state and do not directly apply under the New Covenant. Others argue that the moral principle behind the law remains, though the church today uses discipline rather than execution. |
| Definition of 'father’s wife' | The phrase includes a stepmother (a woman married to the father who is not the biological mother). | Gill and the Targum of Jonathan include the man’s own biological mother; others distinguish Leviticus 20:11 (father’s wife) from the prohibition against mother in Leviticus 18:7. Both readings converge on the same conclusion: sex with either is forbidden and capital. |
| Method of execution | The phrase 'their blood shall be upon them' indicates the offenders are responsible for their own death and the community must not show misplaced mercy. | Gill and Keil & Delitzsch specify stoning; others (e.g., Calvin) do not name a method but emphasize that judges should not shrink from carrying out the sentence. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse sits within a larger legal code delivered to Israel at Sinai. The surrounding context, Leviticus 20:7-8, commands, 'Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Yahweh your God.' The penalties that follow are not arbitrary; they are the legal enforcement of the call to holiness. Ancient Israel lived among Canaanite nations whose religious practices often included incestuous and cultic sexual acts. God’s law drew sharp boundaries to separate His people from such practices.
The phrase 'father’s wife' includes the biological mother (Leviticus 18:7) and a stepmother (Leviticus 18:8). To 'uncover his father’s nakedness' means to expose the father’s shame by having sexual relations with the father’s wife. In a patriarchal household, the father’s honor and the family’s future lineage were at stake. Such an act was a direct assault on the family order that God had established.
Capital punishment was the prescribed penalty for several sexual offenses in this chapter, adultery (v.10), incest with a daughter-in-law (v.12), homosexuality (v.13), bestiality (v.15-16), and others. The method of execution was likely stoning, as Gill and Keil & Delitzsch infer from the phrase 'their blood shall be upon them' (a formula indicating stoning, per the Mishnah). Calvin adds that this formulation guards against leniency: judges might 'shrink from being severe' under a false sense of mercy, but the law insists that the offenders themselves bear the guilt.
The entire legal section aims to preserve the purity of the covenant community. The family was the basic unit of Israel’s social and religious life. An offense like this threatened not only individuals but the whole nation’s relationship with God. The land itself would 'spue you out' (v.22) if such practices were tolerated. Thus the death penalty served both as a deterrent and as corporate purging of evil.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for this verse. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts and versions.
Reception History
Throughout church history, Leviticus 20:11 has been used to condemn incest and to argue that sexual sins within the family are among the most serious offenses against God’s order. Early Christian writers, such as Clement of Alexandria, cited this law to emphasize that such acts defile the image of God in the family. In the medieval period, canon law applied similar restrictions to marriages and sexual relationships within prohibited degrees of kinship. Reformation commentators like Calvin and Luther treated the verse as a clear example of God’s moral law, though they debated whether the civil penalties transferred to Christian states. Modern interpreters often distinguish between the abiding moral prohibition of incest and the temporary civil penalty of death, noting that the New Testament community addresses such sin through church discipline (1 Corinthians 5:1-5).
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The severity of family boundary violations. The act is called uncovering the father’s nakedness, a deeply shameful breach of trust. God treats offenses within the family with the highest seriousness because the family is the first institution He created.
- The holiness of God requires justice in His community. The death penalty shows that sin is not a private matter; it defiles the whole assembly. Holiness means removing evil from the camp.
- The phrase 'their blood shall be upon them' underscores personal responsibility. Offenders are accountable for their own death. The law does not allow the community to excuse sin under the guise of mercy.
Five-point outline
- Context: Leviticus 20 enforces the prohibitions of chapter 18 with real-world consequences.
- The sin: sexual intercourse with father’s wife, biological mother or stepmother.
- The penalty: both parties executed, likely by stoning.
- The rationale: protecting the father’s honor and the family’s sacred order.
- The goal: maintaining Israel’s holiness before God and avoiding the judgment that fell on the Canaanites.
Illustration hooks
- A trusted family member breaks a fundamental trust, a parent’s secret affair with a relative. The pain ripples through generations. This law shows that God takes such betrayal seriously because He designed family to be a place of safety.
- Imagine a community that would tolerate a son abusing his stepmother. Over time, the entire social fabric unravels. The death penalty was God’s way of drawing a line: such acts destroy the foundation of society.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does God command death for these sins in the Old Testament but seems to allow lesser penalties today?
- Does this law still apply to Christians, or is it part of the civil code for ancient Israel only?
- How does this passage inform our understanding of God’s view of incest and family boundaries today?
Leading a Discussion
This passage challenges us to consider the seriousness of family relationships in God’s eyes. In ancient Israel, the family was the cornerstone of the covenant community. Sexual violations within the family were not private sins; they threatened the holiness of the entire nation. As you read Leviticus 20:11, ask yourself: what does God’s strong response tell us about how He values the family unit?
Discussion questions
- What does this verse reveal about God’s view of sexual boundaries within the family? How does it connect to the earlier prohibition in Leviticus 18:8?
- Why does the law require the death penalty for both the man and the woman? What does this say about equal responsibility in sexual sin?
- The phrase 'their blood shall be upon them' appears repeatedly. What does this expression teach about personal accountability and the role of judges?
- How does the surrounding context (vv.7-8, 22-24) tie the law to God’s holiness and Israel’s separation from surrounding nations?
- How would enforcing this law have protected the dignity of women and the stability of families in ancient Israel?
- In what ways do modern societies (including churches) sometimes fail to take family boundaries seriously? What can we learn from this passage about protecting vulnerable family members?
- How does the New Testament address similar issues (e.g., 1 Corinthians 5:1-5), and what does that tell us about how Christians should handle sexual sin in the church today?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Leviticus 18:7 | “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, nor the nakedness of your mother: she is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness. |
| Leviticus 18:8 | “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness. |
| Deuteronomy 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.’ |
| Deuteronomy 27:23 | ‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ |
| Amos 2:7 | They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth and deny justice to the oppressed. A man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name. |
| I Corinthians 5:1 | It 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. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
6 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin stresses that these capital penalties are not excessive: Moses deliberately made incest a death sentence to stop judges from letting offenders off lightly out of a false sense of mercy. The severity itself is the point, guarding the law of nature from being weakened by misplaced compassion.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Cambridge Bible Schools notes that while the instructions here largely repeat those found in Leviticus 18, they go a step further by adding explicit penalties for each transgression. This addition underscores the seriousness of these commands by linking them directly to consequences.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note emphasizes that this sin is not simply adultery but a deliberate act of uncovering the father's shame and dishonoring him. Both the man and the woman must die for it, and the phrase their blood shall be upon them means they themselves bear full responsibility for their own execution.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill clarifies that this offense covers any sexual relationship with a father's wife, whether the man's own mother or stepmother, and whether it occurs during the father's lifetime or after his death. He notes that the penalty is death by stoning, as indicated by the phrase "their blood shall be upon them."
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch clarify that the burning commanded for certain capital offenses in the law means burning the corpse after execution, not death by fire. The punishment was stoning, followed by cremation of the body, which heightened the dishonor of the crime.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange argues that this chapter is not just a supplement to the earlier prohibitions but moves to a new central idea: the holy land itself must be kept holy. The land reacts against abominations and threatens to spue out Israel as it did the Canaanites. He classifies the sins into three distinct grades: devilish, brutal, and carnal.