Leviticus 20 14

Leviticus 20:14 kjv

And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.

Leviticus 20:14 nkjv

If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you.

Leviticus 20:14 niv

"?'If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.

Leviticus 20:14 esv

If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you.

Leviticus 20:14 nlt

"If a man marries both a woman and her mother, he has committed a wicked act. The man and both women must be burned to death to wipe out such wickedness from among you.

Leviticus 20 verses

Leviticus 20 14 Meaning

Leviticus 20:14 describes a man who takes both a woman and her mother to be his wife or concubine, declaring such an act as profound "wickedness" (zimmah). For this transgression, the prescribed punishment is death by burning for all three individuals involved—the man, the woman, and her mother. The severe penalty is explicitly given to purge such an egregious defilement from the community and ensure that no such "wickedness" remains among God's people, thus preserving their holiness and covenant relationship with God.

Leviticus 20 14 Context

Leviticus chapter 20 reinforces and expands upon the prohibitions against various forms of sexual immorality and cultic offenses first laid out in Leviticus chapter 18 and 19. It enumerates the capital punishments for specific acts deemed abominable to the Lord, underscoring the extreme seriousness with which God views the defilement of His covenant people. These laws were given to Israel at Mount Sinai, setting them apart as a holy nation from the surrounding pagan cultures (like the Canaanites and Egyptians), whose practices included incestuous relationships, child sacrifice to Molech, and cultic prostitution (as explicitly mentioned in Lev 18:3, 24-30). The severity of the punishments, including burning or stoning, was not merely retributive but purificatory, intended to cleanse the land and the community of moral corruption so that God's presence could remain among His people without the threat of His holy judgment falling upon them collectively.

Leviticus 20 14 Word analysis

• If a man marries (וְאִישׁ כִּי-יִקַּח אֶת-אִשָּׁה - v'ish ki yiqqach et-ishah): The Hebrew verb laqach (לָקַח) means "to take," but in this context, when referring to a woman, it signifies taking her into marriage or a binding sexual relationship. It denotes the establishment of a forbidden marital-sexual union.
• both the woman and her mother (אֶת-אִמָּהּ וְאֶת-בִּתָּהּ - et-immah v'et-bittah): This highlights a violation of two distinct generations within the same family line, demonstrating an extreme disregard for the God-ordained boundaries of kinship and sexual relations. The phrase stresses the direct relationship between the two women involved.
• it is wickedness (זִמָּה הִוא - zimmah hiw): The term zimmah is consistently translated as "wickedness," "depravity," or "outrage." It describes a grave moral corruption, a perverse and shameful act, indicating not just a sin, but an act of deep perversion that is an abomination in God's eyes. It suggests a complete disregard for divine moral standards and reflects utter moral bankruptcy.
• they shall be burned with fire (בָּאֵשׁ יִשְׂרְפוּ - ba'esh yisrephu): This specifies the capital punishment. Burning was a severe, complete, and highly symbolic form of destruction. While stoning led to death, burning often symbolized complete annihilation and purification from profound defilement, suggesting a removal so absolute that no trace remains. It conveys divine wrath and judgment against an utterly defiling act.
• both he and they (אֹתוֹ וְאֶתְהֶן - oto v'ethen): This explicitly includes all parties involved—the man, the woman, and her mother—underscoring shared culpability and the comprehensive nature of the judgment against all who participated in this profound defilement.
• so that there may be no wickedness among you (לֹא-תִהְיֶה זִמָּה בְּתוֹכְכֶם - lo tihyeh zimmah b'tokhkem): This clause states the theological purpose of the severe judgment. It is not merely punitive but purificatory, designed to cleanse the community from moral pollution and maintain their covenant holiness before God. The phrase emphasizes the corporate responsibility of Israel to remove evil and avoid divine judgment that would fall upon the entire nation if such sin were tolerated.

Words-Group Analysis:

• "If a man marries both the woman and her mother": This specific pairing outlines an incestuous union spanning multiple generations of a family, violating sacred kinship bonds simultaneously. The action implies a legal or intentional assumption of such roles.
• "it is wickedness": This defines the theological gravity of the offense, classifying it as a heinous act that deeply offends God's moral order and pollutes the land.
• "they shall be burned with fire, both he and they": This phrase dictates the method and scope of punishment. Burning signifies utter destruction and removal of what is considered an ultimate abomination. The inclusion of "both he and they" stresses comprehensive accountability.
• "so that there may be no wickedness among you": This final clause reveals the divine intent behind the law—to maintain the purity and holiness of the community by thoroughly excising deep-seated moral depravity, thereby securing God's presence and blessing.

Leviticus 20 14 Bonus section

• The particular sin in Lev 20:14, marrying a woman and her mother, represents a double violation of incestuous relations that God absolutely forbids (compare Lev 18:17, which explicitly prohibits lying with a woman and her daughter as zimmah). This underscores a comprehensive breaking of multiple sacred kinship boundaries in one overarching act.
• The use of zimmah (wickedness/depravity) for this specific sin aligns it with the most heinous of sexual offenses in the Old Testament, denoting extreme moral corruption rather than mere transgression.
• While stoning was the most common form of capital punishment in ancient Israel for many offenses, burning was reserved for a select few crimes, often those of extreme defilement or those involving sacerdotal figures (like a priest's daughter acting as a harlot in Lev 21:9) or ultimate breaches of divine commands (like Achan's sacrilege in Josh 7:25). This distinction highlights the unique abhorrence God had for this particular sexual offense, considering it to be profoundly contaminating.
• The repetitive nature of "wickedness" in the verse (once describing the act, once describing its removal) serves to emphasize the fundamental problem of moral defilement and the divine imperative for its complete eradication from among God's people.

Leviticus 20 14 Commentary

Leviticus 20:14 stands as a stark example of the moral boundaries set for ancient Israel, differentiating them fundamentally from surrounding pagan cultures that engaged in various forms of sexual depravity. The specific act of a man marrying both a woman and her mother is classified as zimmah, a term denoting ultimate depravity and a grievous abomination that twists the fabric of familial and social order. The severe penalty of burning for all parties involved illustrates the absolute nature of God's holiness and His intolerance for such defilement within His covenant community. Burning, an extreme form of capital punishment, signified not merely death, but utter destruction and purification from an unbearable evil, akin to cleansing with fire. This wasn't just about punishment for an individual act but about maintaining the purity of the entire nation, ensuring that their collective holiness, reflecting God's own character, was preserved. This law served as a potent deterrent, emphasizing that transgressions against God's holy standards were not private affairs but communal defilement requiring immediate and decisive eradication to prevent the Lord's judgment upon all of Israel.