# Leviticus 18:22 translation and meaning **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022 "2026-06-19T16:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022/82 "2026-06-22T15:37:24Z")
😆 (Discourse) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022/83 "2026-06-22T18:23:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The only distinction I know of between those two words is that “laying” is usually transitive to something else. You can lay a blanket on a bed, or lay a pillow on a bed, or lay a sleeping person on a bed, but if you’re just putting yourself in a bed, you’re lying, not laying. > > But I don’t think that’s the point you’re making, because laying what on a bed? That’s the point I’d make: because “laying” implies that it’s not just yourself that you’re laying down; it’s something or somebody else. In any context in which it isn’t clearly an object instead of a person, it comes across to me as laying a person; which is having sex with them. In modern colloquial American English, that is. I’ve no idea about in Hebrew. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022/84 "2026-06-22T18:46:54Z")
Apparently I don’t have a dirty enough mind. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022/85 "2026-06-22T21:36:34Z")
The sexual sense of “lay” is not at all separate from the original literal sense ‘cause to lie’. To me, sexual “lay” isn’t even really slang, it’s just plain English. But usually, when somebody says “laying on the bed,” my usual quip is “How many eggs?” or “What am I, a hen?” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022/86 "2026-06-23T01:44:41Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’ve no idea about in Hebrew. There is a charming little story starting around Genesis 19:30, if you want to get a better idea. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022/87 "2026-07-07T15:25:57Z")
Resurrecting this as Dr. MacLellan did another video debunking some bad TikTok video on this, and at the start he recommend what he considers the most up to date scholarly survey of the data on this verse. > ### [“Don’t Do What to Whom? A Survey of Historical-Critical Scholarship on Leviticus 18.22 and 20.13,”](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361182281_Don't_Do_What_to_Whom_A_Survey_of_Historical-Critical_Scholarship_on_Leviticus_1822_and_2013_Currents_in_Biblical_Research_203_2022_203-233_UNCORRECTED_PRE-PRINT) Currents in Biblical Research 20/3 (2022): 203-233 > > Leviticus 18.22 and 20.13 continue to play a decisive role in the debate over sexuality and the Bible. A bit surprisingly, it was not until the mid-1990s that these texts began to be subjected to thorough historical-critical analyses. Since that time, interest has steadily increased along with the number… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022/88 "2026-07-07T15:30:04Z")
And here is a video where he goes into a deeper discussion than I’ve heard him do before: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4oToZogFxLA/maxresdefault.jpg "Is it ok to be gay & Christian?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oToZogFxLA) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leviticus-18-22-translation-and-meaning/1031022.md?page=4)