Go to Related Reading
About this book

LXX Leviticus

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 20

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 You shall also say to the children of Israel, If there shall be any of the children of Israel, or of those who have become proselytes in Israel, who shall give of his seed to a ruler, let him be surely put to death; the nation upon the land shall stone him with stones. 3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given of his seed to a ruler, to defile my sanctuary, and profane the name of those who are consecrated to me. 4 And if the natives of the land should in any way overlook that man in giving of his seed to a ruler, so as not to put him to death; 5 then I will set my face against that man and his family, and I will destroy him, and all who have been of one mind with him, so that he should prostitute himself with the princes, from their people. 6 And the soul that shall follow those who have in them divining spirits, or enchanters, so as to prostitute itself by pursuing them; I will set my face against that soul, and will destroy it from among its people. 7 And you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 8 And you shall observe my ordinances, and do them: I am the Lord that sanctifies you. 9 Every man who shall speak evil of his father or of his mother, let him die the death;⁠ has he spoken evil of his father or his mother? he shall be guilty. 10 Whatever man shall commit adultery with the wife of a man, or whoever shall commit adultery with the wife of his neighbor, let them die the death, the adulterer and the adulteress. 11 And if any one should lie with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness: let them both die the death, they are guilty. 12 And if any one should lie with his daughter-in-law, let them both be put to death; for they have committed impiety, they are guilty. 13 And whoever shall lie with a male as with a woman, they have both committed abomination; let them die the death, they are guilty. 14 Whoever shall take a woman and her mother, it is iniquity: they shall burn him and them with fire; so there shall not be iniquity among you. 15 And whoever shall lie with a beast, let him die the death; and you shall kill the beast. 16 And whatever woman shall approach any beast, so as to have connection with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast: let them die the death, they are guilty. 17 Whoever shall take his sister by his father or by his mother, and shall see her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a reproach: they shall be destroyed before the children of their family; he has uncovered his sister's nakedness,⁠ they shall bear their sin. 18 And whatever man shall lie with a woman that is set apart for a flux, and shall uncover her nakedness, he has uncovered her fountain, and she has uncovered the flux of her blood: they shall both be destroyed from among their generation. 19 And you shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister, or of the sister of your mother; for that man has uncovered the nakedness of one near akin: they shall bear their iniquity. 20 Whoever shall lie with his near kinswoman, has uncovered the nakedness of one near akin to him: they shall die childless. 21 Whoever shall take his brother's wife, it is uncleanness; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall die childless. 22 And keep all my ordinances, and my judgments; and you shall do them, and the land shall not be aggrieved with you, into which I bring you to dwell upon it. 23 And do not walk in the customs of the nations which I drive out from before you; for they have done all these things, and I have abhorred them: 24 and I said to you, You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you for a possession, even a land flowing with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from all people. 25 And you shall make a distinction between the clean and the unclean cattle, and between clean and unclean birds; and you shall not defile your souls with cattle, or with birds, or with any creeping things of the earth, which I have separated for you by reason of uncleanness. 26 And you shall be holy to me; because I the Lord your God am holy, who separated you from all nations, to be mine. 27 And as for a man or woman whoever of them shall have in them a divining spirit, or be an enchanter, let them both die the death: you shall stone them with stones, they are guilty.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 20:17 and LXX Leviticus 20:17

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

Share:

Summary

Leviticus 20 says that a man who sleeps with his sister “shall bear his iniquity,” but the Greek Septuagint changes this to say “they shall bear iniquity,” applying guilt to both. This change introduces an interpretation based on shared responsibility.

Passages

Leviticus 20:17

Hebrew Bible
16 If a woman approaches any animal to copulate with it, you must kill the woman, and the animal must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 17 “‘If a man has marital relations with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has exposed his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his punishment for iniquity. 18 If a man goes to bed with a menstruating woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her fountain of blood, and she has exposed the fountain of her blood, so both of them must be cut off from the midst of their people.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

LXX Leviticus 20:17

Septuagint
16 And whatever woman shall approach any beast, so as to have connection with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast: let them die the death, they are guilty. 17 Whoever shall take his sister by his father or by his mother, and shall see her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a reproach: they shall be destroyed before the children of their family; he has uncovered his sister's nakedness, they shall bear their sin. 18 And whatever man shall lie with a woman that is set apart for a flux, and shall uncover her nakedness, he has uncovered her fountain, and she has uncovered the flux of her blood: they shall both be destroyed from among their generation.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Leviticus

References

"... It is no easy task to determine whether a deviation from the Masoretic text in the Septuagint reflects a Hebrew variant or the translator's style or exegesis. For example, in the case of differences in grammatical categories such as sing/pl and different pronoun forms. However, some such variants are supported by other ancient witnesses, including Hebrew texts such as the Samaritan Pentateuch and biblical or non-biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. For example, Leviticus 20:17 the Masoretic text says “he shall bear his iniquity”; and the Greek Leviticus says “they shall bear iniquity”, applying to “a man and his sister”. In cases of harmonization scholars differ as to whether they should be attributed to the Greek translator or his Vorlage. When the harmonization refers to a remote location, it is more likely that it was already present in the Hebrew Vorlage ..."
Moshe A. Zipor, “The Nature of the Septuagint Version of the Book of Leviticus,” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 121–132.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Tags

Your feedback

Leviticus 20:17 and LXX Leviticus 20:17

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library