Leviticus 20:11

11 If a man has sexual intercourse with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them must be executed; their blood is on their own heads.

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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Leviticus 20:11 In-Context

9 If anyone curses their father or mother, they must be executed. They have cursed their own father and mother; that person's blood is on their own heads.
10 If a man commits adultery with a married woman, committing adultery with a neighbor's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be executed.
11 If a man has sexual intercourse with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them must be executed; their blood is on their own heads.
12 If a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be executed. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own heads.
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.
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