Leviticus 18:9
עֶרְוַת אֲחֽוֹתְךָ בַת־אָבִיךָ אוֹ בַת־אִמֶּךָ מוֹלֶדֶת בַּיִת אוֹ מוֹלֶדֶת חוּץ לֹא תְגַלֶּה עֶרְוָתָֽן׃ ס
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
עֶרְוַ֨ת אֲחֽוֹתְךָ֤ בַת־אָבִ֙יךָ֙ א֣וֹ בַת־אִמֶּ֔ךָ מוֹלֶ֣דֶת בַּ֔יִת א֖וֹ מוֹלֶ֣דֶת ח֑וּץ לֹ֥א תְגַלֶּ֖ה עֶרְוָתָֽן׃ ס
ἀσχημοσύνην τῆς ἀδελφῆς σου ἐκ πατρός σου μητρός σου, ἐνδογενοῦς γεγεννημένης ἢ ἔξω, οὐκ ἀποκαλύψεις ἀσχημοσύνην αὐτῆς.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Turpitudinem sororis tuæ ex patre sive ex matre, quæ domi vel foris genita est, non revelabis.
“‘No tendrás relaciones sexuales con tu hermana, ya sea hija de tu padre o hija de tu madre, ya sea que haya nacido en la misma casa o en otra parte.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
La desnudez de tu hermana, hija de tu padre, ó hija de tu madre, nacida en casa ó nacida fuera, su desnudez no descubrirás.
You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Leviticus 18:9 prohibits uncovering the ervah ("nakedness", H6172) of one's sister, specifying that this applies whether she is the daughter of one's father or the daughter of one's mother, and regardless of whether she was born in the same household or elsewhere.
Key words
- 'Ervat ("nakedness of", H6172) — construct form appearing twice (opening and closing the verse), framing the entire prohibition around this term.
- 'achotcha ("your sister", H0269 + suffix) — feminine singular construct with 2nd person masculine singular suffix, identifying the person whose ervah is protected.
- vat-'Avicha ("daughter of your father", H1323G + H0001G) — construct chain specifying paternal lineage.
- molédet Bayit ("born of house", H4138 + H1004M) — construct phrase indicating birth within the same household.
- tegalleh ("you will uncover", H1540I) — Piel imperfect, 2nd masculine singular, the main verb of prohibition, negated by lo' ("not", H3808).
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence opens with the construct phrase 'ervat 'achotcha ("the nakedness of your sister"), which functions as the direct object placed before the verb — a common Hebrew word order for emphasis. This object is then modified by two parallel construct phrases: vat-'Avicha ("daughter of your father") and vat-'iMmecha ("daughter of your mother"), joined by 'o ("or", H0176A). These clarify that the prohibition covers a sister through either parental line.
A second pair of parallel phrases follows: molédet Bayit ("one born of house") and molédet Chutz ("one born of outside"), again joined by 'o. Both use the same construct noun molédet (H4138), contrasting the location of birth — within the household versus outside it. The verse closes by repeating the key noun as 'ervatan ("their nakedness", H6172 + 3rd feminine plural suffix), which grammatically shifts to a plural suffix even though the subject discussed is singular in each case (a single sister); this plural suffix references the categories of sisters just enumerated collectively.
The main clause frames the entire construction: lo' tegalleh ("you shall not uncover"), using the Piel stem of galah (H1540I), which intensifies the basic sense of "uncover" or "expose."
Differences between versions
The LXX renders molédet Bayit / molédet Chutz as ἐνδογενοῦς γεγεννημένης ἢ ἔξω ("born at home or outside"), using a participial construction rather than the Hebrew's parallel construct nouns. The Vulgate similarly renders this as quæ domi vel foris genita est ("who was born at home or outside"), employing a relative clause. Both LXX and Vulgate collapse the Hebrew's twice-repeated molédet into a single verbal form with two adverbial locations, differing from the Hebrew's parallel noun-construct structure.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.