Leviticus 20:15

15 If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be executed and you must kill the animal.

Leviticus 20:15 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 20:15

If a man lie with a beast
A sin quite unnatural, exceeding shocking and detestable, forbid ( Leviticus 18:23 ) :

he shall surely be put to death:
by stoning, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; and this is the death such are condemned to in the Misnah ^F8:

and ye shall slay the beast;
with clubs, as says the Targum of Jonathan; the reasons given in the Misnah ^F9, why the beast was to be slain, are, because ruin came to the man by means of it, and that it might not be said, as it passed along the streets, that is the beast for which such an one was stoned. Aben Ezra says it was to be slain, that it might not cause others to sin; and he adds, there are that say it was to cover the reproach: no doubt the true reason was to deter the more from this detestable sin, that if a beast, which was only accessory to it, and an instrument of it, was put to death, of how much sorer punishment must the man that committed it be worthy of, even of eternal wrath and destruction, and, unless repented of and forgiven, must be expected by him?

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 4.
F9 Ibid.

Leviticus 20:15 In-Context

13 If a man has sexual intercourse with a man as he would with a woman, the two of them have done something detestable. They must be executed; their blood is on their own heads.

14 If a man marries a woman and her mother as well, it is shameful. They will be burned with fire—the man and the two women—so that no such shameful thing will be found among you.

15 If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be executed and you must kill the animal.

16 If a woman approaches any kind of animal to mate with it, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must be executed; their blood is on their own heads.

17 If a man marries his sister—his father's daughter or his mother's daughter—and they have sexual contact with each other, it is a disgrace. They will be cut off in the sight of their people. Such a man has had sexual contact with his sister; he will be liable to punishment.