Leviticus 20:21
וְאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִקַּח אֶת־אֵשֶׁת אָחִיו נִדָּה הִוא עֶרְוַת אָחִיו גִּלָּה עֲרִירִים יִהְיֽוּ׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִקַּ֛ח אֶת־אֵ֥שֶׁת אָחִ֖יו נִדָּ֣ה הִ֑וא עֶרְוַ֥ת אָחִ֛יו גִּלָּ֖ה עֲרִירִ֥ים יִהְיֽוּ׃
ὃς ἀν’ λάβῃ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἀκαθαρσία αὐτοῦ ἐστίν· ἀσχημοσύνην ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀπεκάλυψεν, ἄτεκνοι ἀποθανοῦνται.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Qui duxerit uxorem fratris sui, rem facit illicitam: turpitudinem fratris sui revelavit: absque liberis erunt.
“‘Si un hombre se casa con la esposa de su hermano, comete un acto impuro. Deshonró a su hermano y no tendrán hijos.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y el que tomare la mujer de su hermano, es suciedad; la desnudez de su hermano descubrió; sin hijos serán.
If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity. He has uncovered the nakedness of his brother; they shall be childless. Distinguish between Clean and Unclean
✦ What the text says
Summary
Leviticus 20:21 addresses a man who takes his brother's wife, calling the act niddah ("impurity", H5079) and stating that he has uncovered his brother's ervah ("nakedness", H6172). The consequence stated is that the parties involved ariri ("childless", H6185) yihyu ("they will be", H1961).
Key words
- yiqqach ("he will take", H3947G) — qal imperfect, expressing a future or habitual action of taking a wife.
- niddah ("impurity", H5079) — feminine singular noun functioning as a predicate nominative describing the nature of the act.
- ervat ("nakedness of", H6172) — feminine singular construct, forming a construct chain with achiv ("his brother", H0251G + H9023).
- gillah ("he has uncovered", H1540I) — piel perfect, an intensive verb stem indicating a completed act of exposure/disclosure.
- ariri ("childless", H6185) — masculine plural adjective, describing the resulting state of the subjects in yihyu.
What the text says
The verse is built on two parallel nominal/verbal clauses. The first, eshet achiv niddah hi' ("the wife of his brother, impurity she [is]"), places the noun niddah ("impurity", H5079) as a predicate directly after the object phrase, without a copular verb expressed in Hebrew — the pronoun hi' ("she/it", H1931) serves as the grammatical link. This construction assigns a categorical label to the situation rather than describing an action.
The second clause, ervat achiv gillah ("the nakedness of his brother he has uncovered"), uses the piel perfect gillah (H1540I), the same verb stem used elsewhere in Leviticus 20 for similar acts. The construct chain ervat achiv ("nakedness of his brother") places emphasis on the relational nature of the violation — the noun ervah (H6172) functions here as a technical term tied to the brother, not as a general description of exposure.
The closing clause uses ariri ("childless", H6185), a plural adjective, together with the qal imperfect yihyu ("they will be", H1961), indicating a future or resultant state applied to plural subjects, though the Hebrew text of this verse does not explicitly specify by name which individuals are meant.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the closing phrase as ἄτεκνοι ἀποθανοῦνται ("childless they will die"), adding the verb "to die" (ἀποθανοῦνται) where the Hebrew simply has yihyu ("they will be", H1961) without a verb of dying. The Vulgate renders this as "absque liberis erunt" ("they will be without children"), matching the Hebrew's neutral "will be" rather than the LXX's "will die." The Vulgate also translates niddah (H5079, "impurity") as "rem... illicitam" ("an unlawful thing"), a more interpretive rendering than a direct equivalent of "impurity."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.