Leviticus 20:13

If a man lies with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God delivers this judicial statute through Moses to the assembled Israelites, positioned between laws concerning incest with a daughter-in-law and laws against polygamous marriage with a woman and her mother.

The words — תּוֹעֵבָה (to'evah) translates literally as "abomination," marking the act as ritually and morally repulsive within the covenant community, while יִשְׁכַּב (yishkav) denotes the physical act of lying with a male as one would with a woman.

The thread — The prohibition and its classification as an abomination reappear in Leviticus 18:22, while the broader category of sexual immorality it represents is echoed in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and Jude 1:7.

Why it lands — The text demands immediate execution for both participants, placing the responsibility for their death squarely on their own heads, and requires the community to enforce this boundary without exception.

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

וְאִ֗ישׁve./'Ishand/ a man אֲשֶׁ֨ר'a.Sherwho יִשְׁכַּ֤בyish.Kavhe will lie with אֶת־'et-<obj.>זָכָר֙za.Khara male מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣יmish.ke.Vei[the] lyings of אִשָּׁ֔ה'i.Shaha woman תּוֹעֵבָ֥הto.'e.Vahan abomination עָשׂ֖וּ'a.Suthey have done שְׁנֵיהֶ֑םshe.nei./Hemboth of/ them מ֥וֹתMotcertainly <to die>יוּמָ֖תוּyu.Ma.tuthey will be put to death דְּמֵיהֶ֥םde.mei./Hemblood<s>/ theirבָּֽם׃Ba/m[are] on <the>/ them

King James Version

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Cross-references

1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
Leviticus 18:22 You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.
Jude 1:7 In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.
1 Timothy 1:10 for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching
Deuteronomy 23:17 No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
Genesis 19:5 They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”
Judges 19:22 While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!”