Leviticus 20:21 (YLT)

Passage

`And a man who taketh his brother's wife--it <FI>is<Fi> impurity; the nakedness of his brother he hath uncovered; childless they are.

Nearby Context

Leviticus 20:19 `And the nakedness of thy mother's sister, and of thy father's sister, thou dost not uncover; because his relation he hath made bare; their iniquity they bear.

Leviticus 20:20 `And a man who lieth with his aunt, the nakedness of his uncle he hath uncovered; their sin they bear; childless they die.

Leviticus 20:21 `And a man who taketh his brother's wife--it <FI>is<Fi> impurity; the nakedness of his brother he hath uncovered; childless they are.

Leviticus 20:22 `And ye have kept all My statutes, and all My judgments, and have done them, and the land vomiteth you not out whither I am bringing you in to dwell in it;

Leviticus 20:23 and ye walk not in the statutes of the nation which I am sending away from before you, for all these they have done, and I am wearied with them;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "taketh", "brother's", "wife--it", "impurity", "nakedness", "hath", and "uncovered". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "taketh" and "brother's", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "And a man who lieth with his..." into verse 22's "And ye have kept all My statutes...", so "taketh" and "brother's" belong inside that flow. In Leviticus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "taketh" and "brother's" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.