What Does Leviticus 18:6 Mean?
Do not draw near to any flesh of your flesh, to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.THE KEY
In this verse, the boundary begins before exposure: even moving toward a close relative’s nakedness is forbidden.
THE MEANING
This verse places the boundary at the approach to sexual exposure, before the act of uncovering. Kinship marks the limit, and the declaration “I am the LORD” grounds that limit in the LORD’s authority now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being close to someone does not make sexual access permissible; here, kinship marks a limit rather than an opening.
THE ROOT
תִּקְרְבוּ
tiqrevu
GROWS FROM
קרב
to come near, approach
“draw near” in this verse is tiqrevu. The verb תִּקְרְבוּ (tiqrevu, you shall approach) comes from קרב (qarav, to come near). The verse places the boundary at nearness itself, before the purpose clause names uncovering; the same root also speaks of bringing something near and of the inward part, joining approach to what is within.
ALSO GROWS
qorbān: offering; something brought near
קָרְבָּן
The word names an offering through the act of bringing it near, showing that this root can describe intentional approach.
qerev: inner part, midst
קֶרֶב
This branch names what is within or in the midst, linking nearness with entry into an interior space.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats movement toward forbidden sexual exposure as part of the boundary, rather than as neutral ground before the act.
Put your way far from her, and do not draw near to the opening of her house.Flee the selling of bodies. Every shortcoming that a person does is outside the body; but the one who sells bodies misses the mark against his own body.THE THREAD
But for me, drawing near to God is good; I have set my shelter in the Lord LORD, to recount all your works.The Hebrew root קרב (qarav, to come near) underlies the approach prohibited here and the psalm’s “draw near.” The root itself does not mark nearness as good or bad: this verse sets a boundary around sexual approach to kin, while the psalm calls nearness to God good.
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