Punishments for Sexual Immorality

The chapter first names sexual acts punished by death, including adultery, incest with close relations, same-sex intercourse between men, marriage involving a woman and her mother, and relations with animals.

I¹⁰f a man commits adultery with another man’s wife— with the wife of his neighbor— both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death. ¹¹If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. ¹²If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both must surely be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is upon them. ¹³If 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. ¹⁴If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that there will be no depravity among you. ¹⁵If a man lies carnally with an animal, he must be put to death. And you are also to kill the animal. ¹⁶If a woman approaches any animal to mate with it, you must kill both the woman and the animal. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

The section then turns to other forbidden unions that bring being cut off, bearing guilt, or childlessness, especially where blood relations or bodily impurity are violated.

¹⁷If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity. ¹⁸If a man lies with a menstruating woman and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from among their people. ¹⁹You must not have sexual relations with the sister of your mother or your father, for it is exposing one’s own kin; both shall bear their iniquity. ²⁰If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered the nakedness of his uncle. They will bear their sin; they shall die childless. ²¹If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity. He has uncovered the nakedness of his brother; they shall be childless.