Imamat 18:17

18:17 You must not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse with them. ¹  They are closely related to her ²  – it is lewdness. ³ 

Imamat 18:29

18:29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, the persons who do them will be cut off from the midst of their people. ⁴ 

Imamat 19:8

19:8 and the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity ⁵  because he has profaned ⁶  what is holy to the Lord. ⁷  That person will be cut off from his people. ⁸ 

[18:17]  ¹ tn Heb “You must not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter; the daughter of her son and the daughter of her daughter you must not take to uncover her nakedness.” Translating “her” as “them” provides consistency in the English. In this kind of context, “take” means to “take in marriage” (cf. also v. 18). The LXX and Syriac have “their nakedness,” referring to the nakedness of the woman’s granddaughters, rather than the nakedness of the woman herself.

[18:17]  ² tc Heb “they are her flesh.” The LXX reads “your” here (followed by NRSV). If the LXX reading were followed by the present translation, the result would be “They are closely related to you.”

[18:17]  ³ tn The term rendered “lewdness” almost always carries a connotation of cunning, evil device, and divisiveness (cf. HALOT 272 s.v. I זִמָּה 2, “infamy”), and is closely associated with sexual and religious infidelity (cf., e.g., Lev 19:29; 20:14; Job 31:11; Jer 13:27; Ezek 16:27; 22:9). Recent English versions differ on how they handle this: NAB “would be shameful”; CEV “would make you unclean”; NIV “wickedness”; NLT “horrible wickedness”; NRSV “depravity”; TEV “incest.”

[18:29]  ⁴ sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.

[19:8]  ⁵ tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.

[19:8]  ⁶ sn Regarding “profaned,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.

[19:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “the holiness of the Lord.”

[19:8]  ⁸ sn On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.