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Navigating the Bible| Genesis |
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Penalties |
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| 20:1 | God spoke to Moses, telling him to |
| 20:2 | say the following to the Israelites: If any person, whether a [born] Israelite or a proselyte who joins Israel, gives any of his children to Molekh, he must be put to death. The local people must pelt him to death with stones. |
| 20:3 | I will direct My anger against that person, and will cut him off [spiritually] from among his people, since he has given his children to Molekh, thus defiling that which is holy to Me and profaning My holy name. |
| 20:4 | [Therefore,] if the people ignore the fact that this person has given his children to Molekh and they do not kill him, |
| 20:5 | I will direct My anger against that person and his family. I will cut him off [spiritually] from among his people, along with all those who are misled by him to prostitute themselves to Molekh. |
| 20:6 | If a person turns to the mediums and oracles so as to prostitute himself to their ways, I will direct My anger against him, and cut him off [spiritually] from his people. |
| 20:7 | You must sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am God your Lord. |
| 20:8 | Safeguard My decrees and keep them, since I am God [and] I am making you holy. |
| 20:9 | Any person who curses his father or mother shall therefore be put to death. Since he has cursed his father or mother, he shall be stoned to death. |
| 20:10 | If a man commits adultery with a married woman, [and] she is the wife of a fellow [Israelite], both the adulterer and adulteress shall be put to death. |
| 20:11 | If a man has intercourse with his father's wife, he has committed a sexual offense against his father. Therefore, both of them shall be put to death by stoning. |
| 20:12 | If a man has intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death. Since they have committed an utterly detestable perversion, they shall be stoned to death. |
| 20:13 | If a man has intercourse with another man in the same manner as with a woman, both of them have committed a disgusting perversion. They shall be put to death by stoning. |
| 20:14 | If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is a perversion, and both he and [the second one taken] shall be burned with fire. |
| 20:15 | If a man performs a sexual act with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal shall also be killed. |
| 20:16 | If a woman presents herself to an animal and allows it to mate with her, you shall kill both the woman and the animal. They shall be put to death by stoning. |
| 20:17 | If a man takes his sister, even [a half sister] who is [only] the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and they both agree to a sexual act, it is an extremely shameful perversion, and they shall be cut off [spiritually] before their people. Since he has committed incest with his sister, he shall bear his guilt. |
| 20:18 | If a man has intercourse with a woman who is [ritually impure from her] menstruation, he has committed a sexual offense with her. He has violated her womb, and she has revealed the source of her blood; [therefore] both of them shall be cut off [spiritually] from among their people. |
| 20:19 | Do not commit incest with your mother's sister or with your father's sister. If one thus violates his blood relative, he shall bear his guilt. |
| 20:20 | If a man has intercourse with his aunt, thus committing a sexual offense against his uncle, [both the man and woman] shall bear their guilt and die without children. |
| 20:21 | If a man takes his brother's wife when she must be avoided, he has committed a sexual offense against his brother, and both [the man and woman] shall be childless. |
| 20:22 | Safeguard all My decrees and laws and keep them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to settle will not vomit you out. |
| 20:23 | Do not follow the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, since they did all the above mentioned [perversions] and I was disgusted with them. |
| 20:24 | I therefore said to you, 'Take over their land. I will give it to you so that you can inherit it - a land flowing with milk and honey. I am God your Lord who has separated you out from among all the nations. |
| 20:25 | You must [likewise] separate out the clean animals and birds from the unclean. Do not make yourselves disgusting through animals, birds or other creatures that I have separated out for you as being unclean. |
| 20:26 | You shall be holy to Me, for I, God, am holy, and I have separated you out from among the nations to be Mine.' |
| 20:27 | Any man or woman who is involved in [the practices of] the mediums or oracles shall be put to death. They shall be pelted to death with stones, and thus stoned to death. |
Commentary:
| pelt him to death... After trial by a duly ordained Sanhedrin. Since there is no such ordination today, death penalties are not imposed. |
| mediums and oracles See Leviticus 19:31 |
| cut him off... See note on Leviticus 20:27. |
| he shall be stoned... (Sanhedrin 66a; Rashi; from 20:27). Expressed idiomatically by, 'his blood is in him.' This indicates that he shall be killed by a method that induces internal bleeding, and this is stoning. See Exodus 21:17. |
| fellow Israelite (Sanhedrin 52b; Rashi). |
| put to death By strangulation (Ibid.) Whenever a death penalty is not specified, it is by strangulation. |
| If a man... The Torah now gives the penalties for the sexual offenses outlined in Leviticus 18:6-23. |
| by stoning See Leviticus 20:9. |
| utterly detestable perversion Tevel. See Leviticus 18:23. |
| stoned to death See Leviticus 20:9. |
| by stoning See Leviticus 20:9. |
| the second one taken (cf. Saadia). That is, if a man marries a woman legally, his wife's mother and daughter become forbidden to him. Either one who has intercourse with him then incurs the death penalty (Yad, Issurey Biyah 2:7; Sanhedrin 15:11; Rashi). |
| by stoning See Leviticus 20:9. |
| and they both agree... (cf. Ramban). Literally, 'he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness.' |
| extremely shameful perversion (Targum; Saadia; Rashbam; Ibn Ezra). Chesed in Hebrew. |
| ritually impure... Who has not immersed in a mikvah; see Leviticus 18:19. |
| violated Or, 'penetrated' (Yevamoth 54a; Rashi). |
| when she must be avoided But sometimes she is permitted; Deuteronomy 25:5. |
| Do not follow the customs This is a specific commandment not to follow gentile customs (Sefer HaMitzvoth, Negative 30). See Leviticus 18:3. |
| mediums or oracles See Leviticus 19:31, 20:6. |
| stoned to death See note on Leviticus 20:9. If there are witnesses and the person is condemned, there is a death penalty. Otherwise, the penalty is being 'cut off' ( Leviticus 20:6; Rashi). |
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