Leviticus 20:11

11 If a man has sexual relations with his father's wife, he has shamed his father, and both the man and his father's wife must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.

Leviticus 20:11 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 20:11

And the man that lieth with his father's wife
Whether she be his mother, or another woman, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, whether she is his own mother, or a stepmother, or whether he did this in the lifetime of his father, or after his death, or whether she was betrothed or married, it mattered not; according to the Jewish tradition ^F4, this is a breach of the law, ( Leviticus 18:8 ) ; and a man guilty of this

hath uncovered his father's nakedness;
and which is a foul and shameful piece of wickedness; the penalty follows:

both of them shall be put to death;
by casting stones on them, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; for, as before observed, wherever the following phrase,

their blood [shall be] upon them,
is used, stoning is meant; and so, according to the Misnah ^F5, all those were to be stoned, after mentioned, of whom this phrase is used.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Misn. ut supra, (Sanhedrin, c. 7.) sect. 4.
F5 lbid.

Leviticus 20:11 In-Context

9 "'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother, so he has brought his own death on himself.

10 "'If a man has sexual relations with his neighbor's wife, both the man and the woman are guilty of adultery and must be put to death.

11 If a man has sexual relations with his father's wife, he has shamed his father, and both the man and his father's wife must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.

12 "'If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is not natural. They have brought their own deaths on themselves.

13 "'If a man has sexual relations with another man as a man does with a woman, these two men have done a hateful sin. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.