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Criminal penalties for crimes specified in Chapter. 18–19 and previous Lev.20:2. Speak this unto the children of Israel: Whosoever of the children of Israel, and of the strangers that dwell among the Israelites, giveth of his children to Molech, shall surely be put to death: and the people of the land shall stone him; Lev.20:3. and I will set My face against that man, and will destroy him from among his people, because he gave of his children to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and to dishonor My holy name; Lev.20:4. and if the people of the land do not turn their eyes on that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and does not put him to death, Lev.20:5. Then I will set My face against that man and against his generation, and I will destroy him from among his people, and all those who follow in his steps to go astray after Molech. On the admirers of the bloodthirsty cult of Moloch (cf. Lev. 18.21), by which the sanctuary of Jehovah was desecrated, the judgment of Jehovah is pronounced with all menacing solemnity; the servant of this cult, whether he is an Israeli or an alien (ger, Vulg.: advena), must be immediately stoned by society, but in the event of the latter’s negligence in punishing the culprit, and especially sympathy for the cult of Moloch, Jehovah himself has to turn His punishment on the culprit and his family (Grot.: reg mortem immaturam). Lev.20:6. And if any soul turns to those who call the dead and to magicians to walk after them fornication, then I will turn My face against that soul and will destroy it from among its people. A similar punishment of “extermination” is threatened for those who turn to conjurers of the souls of the dead and magicians (cf. Lev. 19.26, 31). Lev.20:7. Sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I the Lord your God am [holy]. Lev.20:8. Keep My statutes and do them, for I am the Lord who sanctifies you. An exhortation to that holiness - the image of Jehovah's holiness, which constitutes the essence of the theocratic election of Israel (cf. Lev. 11.45, 18:4-5, 19:2). Lev.20:9. Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death; He reviled his father and his mother: his blood is on him. Slander of a father or mother is punishable by death, as a crime that undermines the divinely established foundations of community life (cf. Ex 21.15, 17; Deut. 27.16; see Matt. 15.14). Lev.20:10. If anyone commits adultery with his married wife, if anyone commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. Lev.20:11. Whoever lies with his father's wife has revealed his father's nakedness: they both shall be put to death, their blood be on them. Lev.20:12. If anyone lies with his daughter-in-law, then both of them will be put to death: they have committed an abomination, their blood is on them. Lev.20:13. If anyone lies with a man as with a woman, then both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death, their blood be on them. Lev.20:14. If anyone takes a wife and her mother, this is lawlessness; He and them must be burned with fire, so that there is no iniquity among you. Lev.20:15. Whoever mixes with cattle must be put to death, and the cattle must be killed. Lev.20:16. If a woman goes to any cattle to have intercourse with it, then kill the woman and the cattle: let them be put to death, their blood be on them. Lev.20:17. If a man take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness: it is a disgrace; let them be cut off before the eyes of the children of their people; he revealed his sister's nakedness: he will bear his sin. Lev.20:18. If a man lies with his wife during the sickness of purging blood, and uncovers her nakedness, then he has exposed her discharge, and she has revealed the flow of her blood: let both of them be cut off from among their people. Lev.20:19. Do not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, for such a one bares his flesh; they will bear their sin. Lev.20:20. Whoever lies with his aunt has revealed the nakedness of his uncle; They will bear their sin and die childless. Lev.20:21. If anyone takes his brother's wife, it is abominable; he has revealed his brother's nakedness; they will be childless. Criminal punishment for crimes against chastity and for various indecencies mentioned in Lev.18 Namely: the death penalty is imposed on both participants in adultery (Lev.20:10; cf. Lev.18.20) and sodomy (Lev.18:13; cf. Lev.18.22), fornication with a stepmother (Lev.20:12) and daughter-in-law ( Lev.20:11). Execution (usually stoning, cf. Joshua 7.15, 25) was aggravated by burning in fire for cohabitation with mother and daughter: all three were killed and burned (Lev. 20:14). Bestiality was punishable by death not only for humans, but also for animals. On the contrary, the sin of unchastity in other cases, apparently, is not punishable by execution, but is submitted to the judgment of God - punishment by childlessness, premature death, etc. Lev.20:22. Keep all My statutes and all My laws and do them, and the land where I am bringing you to live will not overthrow you. Lev.20:23. Do not walk according to the customs of the people whom I am driving out from before you; for they did all these things, and I was indignant at them, Lev.20:24. and I said to you, Possess their land, and I will give you a land flowing with milk and honey as an inheritance. I am the Lord your God, who separated you from all nations. A general warning and admonition not to follow the customs of other peoples, especially the Canaanite tribes, whose crimes were avenged as if by the earth itself, which threw them off its face (cf. Lev. 18.24-30); then the same thought is expressed in a positive way. Lev.20:25. Distinguish clean cattle from unclean and clean birds from unclean, and do not defile your souls with cattle and birds and everything that creeps on the earth, which I have distinguished as unclean. Lev.20:26. Be holy to me, for I am holy, the Lord [your God], and I have separated you from the nations to be mine. Finally, in view of the gravity of the sin of sorcery, stoning for this sin is once again defined, Lev.20:27. You might be interested in: