Leviticus 18:6 - On the noun אִישׁ

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term אִישׁ, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)

Prototypically, the situating noun אִישׁ labels an essential party whose involvement defines the situation of interest. At the same time, by regarding its referent in terms of the overall situation, אִישׁ directs our attention to that situation. In this case, the statement is couched in terms of the key participant; the situation is framed by starting with that participant (as opposed to starting with the activity of interest). This appears to be the distinctive vantage point of certain Priestly passages. The implicit message may be to encourage personal responsibility.

The word אִישׁ is repeated in 20 biblical verses; many of them occur in Leviticus, as here. The repetition אִישׁ אִישׁ imparts a “no exceptions” meaning to the situation that is being depicted, as I explained in my comment to Exod 36:4 and my comment to Lev 17:3.

As in the latter case, the prohibited activities under discussion in this passage, by their very nature, could be done without detection. Potential perpetrators might easily say to themselves, “Nobody will ever know, so what difference will it make? Anyway, what’s so wrong if both parties are consenting adults?”

To compensate for that vulnerability, the passage goes out of its way, by repeating אִישׁ here at the opening, to underscore that the prohibitions apply to each and every head of household without exception.

As for rendering into English, the NJPS “None of you…” is technically correct, yet it does not express the emphatic nuance in the Hebrew text. The revised rendering does so in English idiom.