Leviticus 20:15

15 "'If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death. You must also 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 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.

14 "'If a man has sexual relations with both a woman and her mother, this is evil. The people must burn that man and the two women in fire so that your people will not be evil.

15 "'If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death. You must also kill the animal.

16 If a woman approaches an animal and has sexual relations with it, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.

17 "'It is shameful for a brother to marry his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and to have sexual relations with her. In front of everyone they must both be cut off from their people. The man has shamed his sister, and he is guilty of sin.