Leviticus 20:9-21
Family Life and Sexual Prohibitions ▼▼sn Compare the regulations in Lev 18:6-23.
9 “‘If anyone ▼▼tn Heb “If a man a man who.”
curses his father or mother, ▼▼tn Heb “makes light of his father and his mother.” Almost all English versions render this as some variation of “curses his father or mother.”
he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood guilt is on himself. ▼▼tn Heb “his blood [plural] is in him.” Cf. NAB “he has forfeited his life”; TEV “is responsible for his own death.”
▼▼sn The rendering “blood guilt” refers to the fact that the shedding of blood brings guilt on those who shed it illegitimately (even the blood of animals shed illegitimately, Lev 17:4; cf. the background of Gen 4:10-11). If the community performs a legitimate execution, however, the blood guilt rests on the person who has been legitimately executed (see the remarks and literature cited in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328).
10If a man ▼ commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, ▼▼tc The reading of the LXX minuscule mss has been followed here (see the BHS footnote a-a). The MT has a dittography, repeating “a man who commits adultery with the wife of” (see the explanation in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328). The duplication found in the MT is reflected in some English versions, e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV.
both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 11If a man goes to bed with ▼▼tn Heb “lies down with.” The verb שָׁכַב (shakav) “to lie down” acts as a euphemism, implying going to bed for sexual relations.
his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. ▼ Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. ▼ 12If a man goes to bed ▼ with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed perversion; ▼▼tn The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל (tevel, “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” (cf. KJV, ASV “they have wrought confusion”).
their blood guilt is on themselves. 13If a man goes to bed with ▼ a male as one goes to bed with a woman, ▼▼tn Heb “[as the] lyings of a woman.” The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.
the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 14If a man has marital relations with both a woman and her mother, ▼▼tn Heb “takes a woman and her mother.” The verb לָקַח (laqakh) is sometimes used idiomatically with אִשָּׁה (ʾishah) to mean “take a wife,” or “marry,” and may mean that here (cf. NIV, NASB). But the same expression in v. 21 probably does not imply marriage itself, but only the sexual act of marriage. This chapter uses different expressions for sexual relations, though the subtleties for exegesis are not clear. Since this Hebrew expression can imply marriage, the translation uses “marital relations” as the metaphor in vv. 14, 17, and 21.
it is lewdness. ▼ Both he and they must be burned to death, ▼▼tn Heb “in fire they shall burn him and them.” The active plural verb sometimes requires a passive translation (GKC 460 §144.f, g), esp. when no active plural subject has been expressed in the context. The present translation specifies “burned to death” because the traditional rendering “burnt with fire” (KJV, ASV; NASB “burned with fire”) could be understood to mean “branded” or otherwise burned, but not fatally.
so there is no lewdness in your midst. 15If a man has sexual relations ▼ with any animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 16If a woman approaches any animal to copulate with it, you must kill the woman, and the animal must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 17 “‘If a man has marital relations with ▼▼tn The Hebrew verb לָקַח (laqakh) “to take” sometimes means to take a woman in marriage (cf. Gen 34:16; Lev 20:14; and see HALOT 534 s.v. לקח) as understood by, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV. It is possible that expression here simply means to have sexual relations, or that it does so in combination with the following two clauses. See note at v. 14.
his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. ▼ He has exposed his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his punishment for iniquity. ▼ 18If a man goes to bed ▼ with a menstruating woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her fountain of blood, and she has exposed the fountain of her blood, so both of them ▼▼tn Heb “and the two of them.”
must be cut off from the midst of their people. 19You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, for such a person has exposed his own close relative. ▼▼tn Heb “his flesh.”
They must bear their punishment for iniquity. ▼ 20If a man goes to bed ▼ with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness; they must bear responsibility for their sin, they will die childless. 21If a man has marital relations with ▼ ▼ his brother’s wife, it is indecency. He has exposed his brother’s nakedness; ▼ they will be childless.
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