Bible Strands
Leviticus 18:23
You must not lie carnally with any animal, thus defiling yourself with it; a woman must not stand before an animal to mate with it; that is a perversion.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Moses and the Israelites at Sinai, issuing a boundary law that separates their sexual ethics from the displaced nations.
The words — The text pairs תִתֵּן (ti.Ten, "you will give") with שׁכבתך (she.kha.ve.te./Kha, "your copulation") and לְטמאה (le./ta.me.'ah, "to be unclean") to describe the act as a deliberate transfer of intimacy that produces ritual defilement.
The thread — This command runs parallel to the death penalty statutes in Exodus 22:19 and Leviticus 20:15, while the label "perversion" mirrors the moral condemnation in Leviticus 20:12 regarding incest.
Why it lands — The passage requires strict adherence to sexual boundaries, demanding that readers reject practices that defile the community and maintain separation from surrounding nations.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
Cross-references
- Exodus 22:19 Whoever lies with an animal must surely be put to death.
- Leviticus 20:15 If a man lies carnally with an animal, he must be put to death. And you are also to kill the animal.
- Leviticus 20:12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both must surely be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is upon them.
- Deuteronomy 27:21 ‘Cursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’