Lies with: see verse 11 and 15.18.

Uncle: the word used in this verse designates the brother of one’s father or a paternal uncle. See 10.4.

Childless: the root word here means “stripped,” but it has traditionally been understood to mean “deprived of children.” It is so translated in Genesis 15.2 to describe Abram. But in this context it is more likely that it means “stripped of posterity,” indicating not only that the guilty parties would not bear any children, but also that any offspring that they already had (separately) would be taken from them. In Jeremiah 22.30 Good News Translation translates the same word “lose his children.” In this verse one may translate “they must die without leaving any descendants,” or “they shall have no one to carry on the family name,” or some similar expression. New English Bible renders it “they shall be proscribed….” One commentator suggests “struck off the list.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .