Leviticus 20:15 · Bible study
Leviticus 20:15 Commentary: The Death Penalty for Man and Beast
Hebrew · 7 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why does God command the animal to be killed for bestiality? Hebrew grammar, ancient commentaries, and the call for community holiness in Leviticus 20:15.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Bestiality is a capital crime; both the man and the animal are executed.
- Key words: Hebrew yitten shikhavto (“gives his copulation”) and the doubled mot yumat (“surely die”) emphasize intentionality and certainty of punishment.
- Main debate: The precise rationale for executing the animal: deterrence, removal of defilement, or preventing monstrous births.
- Theological theme: God's holiness demands the purging of sin that defiles the land and community.
- Best use: Preaching the seriousness of sexual sin and the call to be a holy people set apart for God.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
If a man lies carnally with an animal, he must be put to death. And you are also to kill the animal.
WEB World English Bible 2000
“‘If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; and you shall kill the animal.
KJV King James Version 1769
And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
`And a man who giveth his lying with a beast is certainly put to death, and the beast ye do slay.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And if a man lie with a beast for copulation, he shall certainly be put to death; and ye shall kill the beast.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
He that shall copulate with any beast or cattle, dying let him die: the beast also ye shall kill.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y cualquiera que tuviere cópula con bestia, ha de ser muerto; y mataréis á la bestia.
Qualquer um que tiver relação sexual com animal, será morto; e matareis ao animal.
Si un homme couche avec une bête, il sera puni de mort; et vous tuerez la bête.
Wenn jemand beim Vieh liegt, der soll des Todes sterben, und das Vieh soll man erwürgen.
Daartoe als een man bij enig vee zal gelegen hebben, hij zal zekerlijk gedood worden; ook zult gijlieden het beest doden.
L’uomo che s’accoppia con una bestia, dovrà esser messo a morte; e ucciderete la bestia.
Także kto by się złączył z bydlęciem, śmiercią umrze, bydlę też zabijecie.
Кто смесится со скотиною, того предать смерти, и скотину убейте.
人 若 與獸 淫合，總要 治死他，也要殺 那 獸。
And if a man has sex relations with a beast, let him be put to death, and let the beast be put to destruction.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Leviticus 20:15
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree Leviticus 20:15 prescribes the death penalty for bestiality, a sin already forbidden in Leviticus 18:23. The man's execution is formulaic: the Hebrew uses the infinitive absolute môt followed by the imperfect yûmāt, a construction that intensifies the certainty of death. The animal also must be killed. Gill cites the Mishnah for reasons: the beast was the instrument of ruin, and its death prevents the public from labeling it as “the beast for which such an one was stoned.” Wesley adds that slaying the beast “blot[s] out the memory of so loathsome a crime” and prevents “monstrous births.” Keil and Delitzsch note stoning as the typical method and link the animal's death to the defilement principle. The community enacts the penalty (the verb is second-person plural), emphasizing that the crime threatens the holiness of the whole people.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: Both the man and the animal are to be executed as a penalty for this act, and the community is commanded to carry out the sentence.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Requiring death penalty for both man and beast | The text plainly commands execution of both; all commentators and traditions accept this. | There is no debate on whether the death penalty applies; the disagreement concerns the method (stoning vs. bludgeoning with clubs) mentioned in later Jewish tradition. |
| Reason for killing the animal | All agree the animal is killed to remove defilement and to deter others from committing the same sin. | Gill and Wesley emphasize different supporting reasons: Gill cites the Mishnah's rationale of preventing gossip and removing the instrument of ruin; Wesley adds the prevention of monstrous births. Both are seen as complementary rather than contradictory. |
| Relevance for the Christian church | The moral principle that sexual perversion defiles and is incompatible with holiness applies across the Testaments. | Christians differ on whether the civil penalties of the Mosaic law are binding today. Many see the passage as revealing God's character and the gravity of sin, while recognizing that the church does not enforce the death penalty for these offenses. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Leviticus 18, 20 forms a block of sexual ethics set within Israel's covenant with Yahweh. The nations surrounding Israel, particularly Egypt and Canaan, practiced customs that God calls abominations (Lev 18:3, 24, 30). Bestiality is singled out already in chapter 18 as a “perversion” (Lev 18:23). Chapter 20 adds the penalties, making it a capital crime. The surrounding verses list other sexual offenses, adultery, incest, homosexuality, each carrying the death penalty. This severity reflects the belief that such acts defile the land and the people, threatening God's presence among them.
The command to kill the animal, striking to modern readers, has parallels in other ancient Near Eastern laws, but Israel's rationale is distinctly theological. The verb for killing the animal is plural (“you shall kill”), indicating community action. The animal is not morally culpable in the way a human is; rather, its death removes the defilement and serves as a deterrent. The land must not be polluted by the memory of the act, as the chapter later warns that the land “vomits out its inhabitants” for such sins (Lev 18:28).
Literarily, this verse stands in parallel with verse 16, which covers a woman approaching an animal. The symmetry shows the law applies to both genders. The animal is destroyed in both cases, reinforcing that the offense is against the created order as well as against the community.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant manuscript variants for Leviticus 20:15. The Hebrew text is stable across the Masoretic tradition.
Reception History
In early Jewish tradition, the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 7:4) specifies that the man is stoned and the animal killed by bludgeoning, precisely to prevent the beast from being a perpetual reminder of the crime. The Talmud elaborates on the reasoning, linking the animal's death to the principle “because a calamity came upon the world through it.” In Christian history, the verse was rarely the focus of sermons, but commentators such as Matthew Henry and John Wesley treated it as a clear illustration of how odious such sin was to God. Modern readers often struggle with the animal's execution, prompting reflection on how the law serves both to protect the community's holiness and to underscore the seriousness of violating God's created order.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The prohibition established. Bestiality is a perversion already condemned in Leviticus 18:23. The act violates the boundary between human and animal, blurring a line God set at creation.
- The penalty enacted. Both the man and the animal must die. The Hebrew construction “surely die” leaves no ambiguity. The community participates in carrying out the sentence.
- The purpose explained. The animal's death removes defilement, deters others, and underscores the seriousness of sexual sin. God's holiness demands that sin, even its instrument, be purged.
Five-point outline
- The sin: “If a man lies with an animal”, a deliberate, unnatural act.
- The penalty for the man: “He shall surely be put to death”, capital punishment without exception.
- The penalty for the animal: “You shall kill the animal”, the beast also dies.
- The community's role: The verb “you shall kill” is plural, involving the whole congregation in executing justice.
- The underlying theology: God's holiness cannot coexist with such defilement; the land must be cleansed.
Illustration hooks
- A farmer's contaminated well is sealed off to prevent poisoning an entire village. Removing the source of harm protects the community.
- When a car is used in a violent crime, it is impounded and sometimes destroyed as evidence. The object is removed from public use.
- In a hospital, an infected instrument is sterilized or discarded to stop the spread of disease. The law's logic works similarly for moral contamination.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does God command the animal to be killed? It didn't choose to sin.
- Does this law apply to Christians today? How do we distinguish the cultural/legal context from the moral principle?
- Why is this sin listed among other sexual sins in the holiness code? What does it reveal about God's design for creation?
Leading a Discussion
This law feels distant and harsh to modern ears. But within the world of the Old Testament, it reveals how seriously God takes the boundaries he built into creation. The animal's death is not about punishing an innocent creature; it is about removing defilement and teaching the community that some acts cannot be tolerated if God is to dwell among them. As you reflect on this passage, consider what it means for a people called to be holy as God is holy (Lev 20:26).
Discussion questions
- What does the text actually command? List the outcomes for both the man and the animal.
- Why do you think the animal is also put to death? What reasons do the commentators give?
- How does this verse connect to the surrounding laws in Leviticus 20 (e.g., verses 10, 14, 16)? What patterns do you see?
- What does this law tell us about God's view of human sexuality and the created order?
- In what ways does the call to be holy (Lev 20:26) shape the community's response to sin?
- How should Christians today read laws that prescribe capital punishment? What principles transfer, and what is tied to Israel's theocratic context?
- If you were explaining this verse to a skeptic who finds it cruel, how would you respond using the text and its context?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Exodus 22:19 | “Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death. |
| Leviticus 18:23 | “‘You shall not lie with any animal to defile yourself with it. No woman may give herself to an animal, to lie down with it: it is a perversion. |
| Deuteronomy 27:21 | ‘Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
6 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Cambridge Bible Schools notes that while the instructions here largely repeat those found in Leviticus 18, they go a step further by adding explicit penalties for each transgression. This addition underscores the seriousness of these commands by linking them directly to consequences.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Bible note stresses that the penalty for bestiality applies to both the human and the animal. The man must be executed, and the beast is also to be killed, indicating the seriousness of the offense and the need to remove all trace of the sin.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill highlights the Jewish tradition that the beast itself is also executed, not merely the man. Various explanations are given: it caused the man's ruin, it would be a public reminder of the crime, and it might lead others to sin. Gill adds that this severity underscores how much greater the human's eternal punishment would be without repentance.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch clarify that the burning commanded for certain capital offenses in the law means burning the corpse after execution, not death by fire. The punishment was stoning, followed by cremation of the body, which heightened the dishonor of the crime.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange sees this chapter as driven by a new idea: the holy land itself must be kept pure, or it will vomit out its inhabitants. He organizes the offenses into three classes—devilish, brutal, and carnal—each with a matching grade of punishment, from execution to childlessness.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley gives two reasons for the command to kill the animal involved in a sexual crime. First, to prevent the birth of deformed offspring. Second, to completely erase any reminder of such a detestable act from the community’s memory.