Leviticus 18:13

Summary

The verse prohibits uncovering the "nakedness" of the sister of one's mother, giving as the reason that she is a she'er ("relative/flesh", H7607) of the mother.

Key words

• 'Ervat ("nakedness of", H6172) — feminine singular construct; opens the phrase and links directly to the following noun chain, forming the technical expression for the prohibited exposure/relation.
• 'achot- ("sister of", H0269) — feminine singular construct, chained to 'immekha ("your mother"), specifying which relative is meant: the mother's sister.
• teGalleh ("you will uncover", H1540I) — Piel imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular; the Piel stem intensifies the verb's action, and the imperfect conveys a durative/future prohibition when combined with the negation lo' ("not", H3808).
• ki- ("for/that", H3588A) — subordinating particle introducing the clause that justifies the prohibition.
• she'Er ("relative of/flesh of", H7607) — masculine singular construct, forming the predicate that names the mother's sister as belonging to the category of she'er in relation to the mother.

What the text says

The verse is built in two clauses joined by ki- ("for", H3588A). The first clause is a construct chain: 'Ervat ("nakedness of", H6172) governs 'achot- ("sister of", H0269), which governs 'immekha ("your mother", built from H0517 + H9021). This chain identifies the object of the prohibition as belonging specifically to the mother's sister. The negation lo' ("not", H3808) precedes the verb teGalleh ("you will uncover", H1540I), a Piel imperfect second-person masculine singular form; the Piel stem here gives the verb its intensive or specialized sense within this legal formula, and the imperfect aspect frames the command as an ongoing prohibition rather than a single past event.

The second clause restates the relationship using a different construct chain: she'Er ("relative of", H7607) plus 'immekha ("your mother"), closed by the independent pronoun hi' ("she", H1931), which functions as the copula linking the subject (the sister) to the predicate (relative of the mother). This pronoun is grammatically necessary in Hebrew nominal clauses lacking a verb "to be," and it emphasizes that "she" — the mother's sister — occupies this specific kinship category.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders she'Er ("relative of", H7607) with oikeia (household member/relative), a term emphasizing domestic/family belonging, while the Vulgate uses caro ("flesh"), a more literal rendering closer to the physical sense the Hebrew term can carry. The Hebrew 'Ervat...te.ga.Leh ("nakedness...you will uncover") is rendered in the BSB as "have sexual relations," an interpretive expansion not present as a literal lexical match in the Hebrew construct chain, which speaks of "uncovering nakedness" rather than using a direct verb for sexual relations.