Incest in the Bible refers to

sexual relation Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) t ...

s between certain close kinship relationships which are prohibited by the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Deuteronomy. Jewish views on incest are based on the biblical categories of forbidden relationships and have been subject to rabbinic interpretations in the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

. (See also

Forbidden relationships in Judaism Forbidden relationships in Judaism ( ') are intimate relationships which are forbidden by prohibitions in the Torah or rabbinical injunctions. Some of these prohibitions—those listed in Leviticus 18, known as ' ( he, עריות)—are consider ...

.) The Karaites reject the authority of Talmudic opinions and interpret the biblical prohibitions differently. The various Christian denominations set their own categories of prohibited

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adopti ...

uous relationships, which have changed from time to time. (See Affinity (Catholic canon law).) The laws of many countries regarding prohibited relationships do not necessarily follow the biblical prohibitions nor those of any particular church. (See

Laws regarding incest Laws regarding incest (i.e. sexual activity between family members or close relatives) vary considerably between jurisdictions, and depend on the type of sexual activity and the nature of the family relationship of the parties involved, as well ...

.) In ancient times, tribal nations preferred endogamous marriage marriage to one's relatives; the ideal marriage was usually that to a cousin, and it was often forbidden for an eldest daughter to even marry outside the family. Marriage to a half-sister, for example, is considered

by most nations today, but was common behaviour for Egyptian

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

s; similarly, the Book of Genesis portrays Sarah as marrying

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...

, her half-brother, without criticising the close genetic relationship between them, and the Book of Samuel treats the marriage of a royal prince to his half-sister as unusual, rather than wicked.

Prohibited relationships

and sets out lists of prohibited relationships, and two chapters later specifies punishments for such unions, but the second list of unions is much shorter than the first. Critical scholars regard the lists as having originally been independent documents, bound together at a later point. The

Deuteronomic Code The Deuteronomic Code is the name given by academics to the law code set out in chapters 12 to 26 of the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible. The code outlines a special relationship between the Israelites and Yahweh and provides instruction ...

gives a yet more simple list of prohibited relationships a man's parent's daughter (including his sister), a man's father's wife (including his mother), and a man's mother-in-law. In the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Gentiles (non-Jews). The relationships prohibited by

Leviticus 18 Leviticus 18 (the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus) deals with a number of sexual activities considered abominable, including incest, bestiality, and homosexuality (or sodomy). The chapter also condemns Moloch worship. It is part of ...

are: * One's

mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

() * One's

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

() * One's

stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. Culture Step ...

() * One's paternal or maternal

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

() * One's paternal sister through one's father's wife () * One's

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between group ...

(inferred from ) * One's

granddaughter Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

() * A woman and her daughter () * A woman and her

() * One's

aunt An aunt is a woman who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. Known alternate terms include auntie or aunty. Children in other cultures and families may re ...

by blood () * One's father's brother (

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal rela ...

) () * One's father's brother's wife (

) () * One's

daughter-in-law In law and in cultural anthropology, affinity is the kinship relationship created or that exists between two people as a result of someone's marriage. It is the relationship which each party to a marriage has to the relations of the other part ...

() * One's brother's wife (

sister-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred ...

) (), with the exception of

Yibum Yibbum (, Hebrew: ייבום) is the form of levirate marriage found in Judaism. As specified by , the brother of a man who died without children is permitted and encouraged to marry the widow. However, if either of the parties refuses to go thro ...

* One's wife's sister (

) during one's wife's lifetime, even if since divorced () The lists of prohibited relationships can be summarised as follows (the relations highlighted in red are those that are prohibited): One of the most notable features of each list is that sexual relations between a man and his own daughter is not explicitly prohibited. Although the first relation mentioned after the Levitical prohibition of sex with "near kin" names that of "thy father", it must be taken into account that the Hebrew original text only addresses male Jews with regard to their female relatives. The Talmud argues that the absence is because the prohibition was ''obvious'', especially given the proscription against a relationship with a granddaughter, although some

biblical scholars Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 For ...

have instead proposed that it was originally in the list, but was then accidentally left out from the copy on which modern versions of the text ultimately depend, due to a mistake by the scribe. The second list in the Holiness code noticeably differs from the first by not including the closer relatives, and it might be assumed that ''obviousness'' is the explanation here as well. One might argue that the explicit prohibition against engaging in sexual activity with a woman as well as with her daughter, implicitly forbids sexual activity between a man and his daughter. However, the rationale might suggest otherwise (the original text is unclear here), since it mentions only that "they" (i.e., the woman and the daughter) are related. John Calvin did not consider the father-daughter-relation to be explicitly forbidden by the bible, but regarded it as immoral nevertheless. Apart from the case of the daughter, the first incest list in Leviticus roughly produces the same rules as applied in early (pre-Islamic) Arabic culture; in Islam, these pre-Islamic rules were made statutory. Ezekiel implies that, in his time, marriage between a man and his stepmother, or his daughter-in-law, or his sister, were frequent. This situation seems to be the target of the Deuteronomic version of the incest prohibition, which only addresses roughly the same three issues (though prohibiting the mother-in-law in place of the daughter-in-law). Early rabbinic commentators instead argue that the Deuteronomic list is so short because the other possible liaisons were ''obviously'' prohibited, and these three were the only liaisons difficult to detect, on account of the fact that, in their day, a man's stepmother, half-sister, and mother-in-law usually lived in the same house as the man (prior to any liaison). Also, cousins are not included in the lists of prohibited relationships. However, the Bible prohibits relationships with any close blood relative ().

Sex-specific rules

The biblical lists are not symmetrical the implied rules for women are not the same – they compare as follows:

Incestuous relationships mentioned in the Bible

The Bible mentions a number of sexual relationships between close kin, most of which relate to the pre-Sinai period, before the handing down of the Mosaic law: * In ,

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...

saw his father Noah's nakedness. The

suggests that Ham may have

sodomized Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''so ...

Noah (Babylonian Talmud

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , ''synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as "rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temple), ...

70a). In more recent times, some scholars have suggested that Ham may have had intercourse with his father's wife. * Abraham's brother Nahor married his niece

Milcah Milcah ( ''Mīlkā'', related to the Hebrew word for "queen") was the daughter of Haran and the wife of Nahor, according to the genealogies of Genesis. She is identified as the grandmother of Rebecca in biblical tradition, and some texts of ...

, the daughter of his other brother Haran. * Living in an isolated area after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,

Lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...

's two daughters conspired to inebriate and seduce their father due to the lack of available partners. Because of intoxication, Lot "perceived not" when his firstborn, and the following night his younger daughter, lay with him. () The two children born were directly Lot's sons and indirectly his grandsons, being his daughters' sons. Likewise, their sons were also half-brothers (between them and with their mothers), having the same father, as well as cousins, having mothers that were sisters. * In one of the tales of a wife confused for a sister,

admitted that his wife Sarah is his half-sister—the daughter of his father but not his mother. However, in

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writ ...

, Sarah is considered Abraham's

niece In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of an ...

(the daughter of his brother, Haran). * Marriage of cousins was common in the pre-Sinai period. Abraham's son

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was th ...

married

Rebekah Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

, his first cousin once removed, the granddaughter of his father Abraham's brother Nahor with Milcah. * Isaac and Rebekah's firstborn son

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

resorted to marrying his cousin Mahalath, daughter of his father's brother Ishmael because his parents didn't approve of him having relationships with Canaanites. * Isaac and Rebekah's second son

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

married his cousins

Leah Leah ''La'ya;'' from (; ) appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son ...

and

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

, who were both sisters and daughters of his mother's brother

Laban Laban is a French language, French surname. It may refer to: Places * Laban-e Olya, a village in Iran * Laban-e Sofla, a village in Iran * Laban, Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * 8539 Laban, main-belt asteroid People ...

. * Jacob's firstborn son

Reuben Reuben or Reuven is a Biblical male first name from Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (Re'uven), meaning "behold, a son". In the Bible, Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob. Variants include Rúben in European Portuguese; Rubens in Brazilian Portugue ...

had sex with his father's concubine

Bilhah Bilhah ( "unworried", Standard Hebrew: ''Bīlha'', Tiberian Hebrew: ''Bīlhā'') is a woman mentioned in the Book of Genesis.For the etymology, see describes her as Laban's handmaid, who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marria ...

. * Judah, Jacob's fourth son, mistook his daughter-in-law Tamar for a prostitute while she was veiled, and had sex with her. * Amram married his paternal aunt Jochebed, the mother of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. However, according to the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, she was his cousin. *

Amnon Amnon ( he, אַמְנוֹן ''’Amnōn'', "faithful") was, in the Hebrew Bible, the oldest son of King David and his second wife, Ahinoam of Jezreel. He was born in Hebron during his father's reign in Judah. He was the heir apparent to the th ...

, King David's eldest son and heir to the throne, raped his half-sister Tamar. Tamar's brother, Absalom, learned of the incident and, two years later, ordered his servants to have Amnon killed. In vain with Amnon, Tamar said, "Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee". * Absalom, son of King David, in the middle of a rebellion against his father, had sex with his father's

concubines Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

on the roof inside a tent. * Rehoboam, son of Solomon and Naamah, married

Maacah Maacah (or Maakah; he, ''Maʿăḵā'', "crushed"; Maacha in the Codex Alexandrinus, Maachah in the KJV) is a non-gender-specific personal name used in the Bible to refer to a number of people. *A child of Abraham's brother Nachor, evidently a ...

daughter of Absalom. 2 Samuel 14:27 does not list

as a daughter of Absalom, but Absalom seems to have had sex with the wives of

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, his father, at the advice of Ahithophel. * Zelophehad's daughters, Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, married their cousins on their father's side to obey the Lord's command. The Lord said: "no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another". * Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the one who attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher.” Othniel, the son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz, was the one who conquered it, so Acsah became Othniel’s wife.

Notes

References

* Akerly, Ben Edward, ''The X-Rated Bible: An Irreverent Survey of Sex in the Scriptures'' (Feral House, 1998) ; pp. 1–13 {{DEFAULTSORT:Incest In The Bible Incest Sexuality in the Bible