Deuteronomy 27:20

Summary

Deuteronomy 27:20 pronounces a curse on a man who has sexual relations with his father's wife, describing the act as an uncovering of his father's "skirt" or covering. The verse ends with the ritual response of the assembled people, who confirm the curse by saying "amen."

Key words

• 'a.Rur ("cursed", H0779) — Qal passive participle, masculine singular; states a condition already imposed rather than describing an action in progress.
• sho.Khev ("one who lies", H7901I) — Qal active participle; functions as the subject of the curse, identifying "the one doing" the act, not a finished event.
• 'E.shet ("wife of", H0802H) — feminine singular construct noun, linked to 'a.Vi ("father", H0001G) with the suffix -o ("his"), forming "his father's wife."
• ke.Naf ("skirt/edge of", H3671) — feminine singular construct noun, again bound to 'a.Vi + suffix, producing "his father's skirt/covering."
• 'a.Men ("amen", H0543) — interjection closing the formula; the people's spoken confirmation.

What the text says

The verse opens with a fixed curse formula: the passive participle 'a.Rur ("cursed") stands first, followed immediately by the active participle sho.Khev ("one who lies"), which supplies the grammatical subject. This participle-first structure is typical of legal/curse formulas in this chapter — it names the category of person condemned rather than narrating a specific event. The prepositional phrase 'im-'Eshet 'aviv ("with the wife of his father") specifies the object of the illicit relation through a construct chain ('Eshet + 'aviv), a standard way in Hebrew to express possession/relationship without a separate word for "his."

The subordinate clause introduced by ki ("for/because") gives the grounds for the curse using the Piel perfect gilah ("he has uncovered"), an intensive stem indicating a decisive, completed act. Its object, kenaf 'aviv ("the skirt/edge of his father"), is another construct chain; kenaf literally denotes the edge or covering of a garment, used here as an idiom for the father's marital domain. The clause thus shifts from the participial description to a finite verb reporting a specific past action.

The closing line uses the sequential (waw-consecutive) perfect 'amar ("it will say"), continuing the narrative chain established across the curse list in this chapter, with kol ha'am ("all the people") as subject, followed by the people's spoken word 'amen.

Differences between versions

The LXX translates kenaf ("skirt/edge") as synkalymma ("covering"), a different image than "skirt" but conveying a similar sense of what is uncovered. The Vulgate renders the same clause as "operimentum lectuli" ("covering of the bed"), adding "lectuli" ("bed"), a specification not present in the Hebrero construct kenaf 'aviv. For the closing word, the Vulgate keeps the transliterated "Amen," while the LXX uses Génoito ("may it be/so be it"), a translated equivalent rather than a transliteration of 'amen (H0543).