Leviticus 20:11

11 If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has shamed his father.^[a] Both of them must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.^[b]

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 "If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood is on his own hands.

10 If a man commits adultery with a married woman-if he commits adultery with his neighbor's wife-both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

11 If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has shamed his father. Both of them must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.

12 If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own hands.

13 If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.

Footnotes

• [a] Dt 22:30; 27:20; 1 Co 5:1
• [b] Lit on them