Leviticus 20:13

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Leviticus 20:13 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Leviticus 20:13 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/leviticus/20/13.

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English Translation
If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    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.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And a man who lies with a male, lying as a woman, both of them have done an abomination. Dying, they shall be executed; their blood on them.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    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.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    The man also that lyeth with the male, as one lyeth with a woman, they haue both committed abomination: they shall dye the death, their blood shalbe vpon them.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    If any one lie with a man se with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    `And a man who lieth with a male as one lieth with a woman; abomination both of them have done; they are certainly put to death; their blood `is' on them.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And a man who lies with a male as one lies with a woman—both of them have done an abomination; they are certainly put to death; their blood [is] on them.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    If a man sleeps with another man, as with a woman, both of them have done something detestable. They must surely be put to death. They are guilty and deserve to die.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And a man who lies with a male, lying as a woman, both of them have done an abomination. Dying, they shall be executed; their blood on them.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And if a man lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall certainly be put to death; their blood is upon them.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    “‘If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    If a man also shall 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.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    Men who have sex with other men as with a woman have done something disgusting. They must be executed; they bear the responsibility for their punishment.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And if a man has sex relations with a man, the two of them have done a disgusting thing: let them be put to death; their blood will be on them.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י
mishkâb
H4904
“beds of”
Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Common
Gender
Masculine
Number
Plural
State
Construct
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7901

TWOT: 2381c

a lying down, couch, bier, act of lying - couch, bed - act of lying, lying down or sleeping room, bedroom - lying down (for sexual contact)
  1. וְאִ֗ישׁ ʼîysh H376 “and · man” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  2. אֲשֶׁ֨ר ʼăsher H834 “which” Particle, Relative
  3. יִשְׁכַּ֤ב shâkab H7901 “to lie down” Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  4. אֶת ʼêth H854 “with” Preposition
  5. זָכָר֙ zâkâr H2145 “male” Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  6. אִשָּׁ֔ה ʼishshâh H802 “woman” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  7. תּוֹעֵבָ֥ה tôwʻêbah H8441 “abomination” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  8. עָשׂ֖וּ ʻâsâh H6213 “to do” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural
  9. שְׁנֵיהֶ֑ם shᵉnayim H8147 “two · their” Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Dual, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  10. מ֥וֹת mûwth H4191 “to die” Verb, Qal, Infinitive Absolute
  11. יוּמָ֖תוּ mûwth H4191 “to die” Verb, Hophal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  12. דְּמֵיהֶ֥ם dâm H1818 “blood · their” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

14
words
12
distinct lemmas
Pentateuch
section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י bed H4904 occurs in 44 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 4 verbs
  • 5 nouns
  • 2 adjectives
  • 2 prepositions
  • 1 particle

Verb forms

  • יִשְׁכַּ֤ב Qal · Imperfect
  • עָשׂ֖וּ Qal · Perfect
  • מ֥וֹת Qal · Infinitive Absolute
  • יוּמָ֖תוּ Hophal · Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • מ֥וֹת to die H4191 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 31 words from the Hebrew and 24 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 14 Hebrew tokens and 14 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

8

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 20:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • 1 Corinthians 6:9 Or don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,
  • Leviticus 18:22 "'You shall not lie with a man, as with a woman. That is detestible.
  • Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
  • 1 Timothy 1:10 for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine;
  • Deuteronomy 23:17 There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel.
  • Romans 1:26–27 For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.
  • Genesis 19:5 They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."
  • Judges 19:22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man who came into your house, that we may know him.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Leviticus 20:13 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִשְׁכַּ֤ב אֶת זָכָר֙ מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֔ה תּוֹעֵבָ֥ה עָשׂ֖וּ שְׁנֵיהֶ֑ם מ֥וֹת יוּמָ֖תוּ דְּמֵיהֶ֥ם בָּֽם

If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 20:13 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὅς ἄν κοιμάω μετά ἄρσην κοίτη γυνή βδέλυγμα ποιέω ἀμφότεροι θανατόω ἔνοχος εἰμί

And whoever shall lie with a male as with a woman, they have both wrought abomination; let them die the death, they are guilty.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

2

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וּגְבַר דִי יִשְׁכּוּב יָת דְכוּרָא מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִתְּתָא תּוֹעֶבְתָּא עֲבָדוּ תַּרְוֵיהוֹן אִתְקְטָלָא יִתְקַטְלוּן קְטָלָא חַיָבִין

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

  2. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וּגְבַר דִי יְשַׁמֵשׁ עִם דְכוּרָא תַּשְׁמִישִׁין דְאִיתָא תּוֹעֵיבְתָּא עָבָדוּ תְּרֵיהוֹן אִיתְקְטָלָא יִתְקַטְלוּן בְּאַטְלוּת אַבְנִין

    And if a man lie with a man as with a woman, they have wrought abomination; both of them shall die by the stoning of stones.

    Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Leviticus 20:13 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Lev 20:13 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.

Ver. 13. See on Lev 18:1-30.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Lev 20:13. Put to death — Except the one party was forced by the other: see Deu 22:25.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Mankind.—See Lev_18:22.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

If a man lie also with mankind, as he lieth with a woman,.... Is guilty of the sin of sodomy, this is a breach of the law in Lev 18:22,

both of them have committed an abomination; he that lies, and he that is lain with, both consenting to perpetrate the abominable wickedness; which may well be called an abomination, being contrary to nature, and more than brutish, for nothing of that kind is to be found among brutes:

they shall surely be put to death; if he that is lain with is not forced, as Aben Ezra observes:

their blood shall be upon them; be slain by stoning, as the above Targum.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Except the one party was forced by the other. See Deu 22:25.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

13. An abomination — Lev_18:22, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Vers. 13-19. (See Lev_18:22, Lev_18:17, Lev_18:23, Lev_18:9, Lev_18:19, Lev_18:12)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Put to death - Except the one party was forced by the other. See Deut. xxii, 25.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

a man sleeps with

This is a polite way of saying that he had sex with another man. Some languages use more direct phrases such as "a man had sex with." (See: Euphemism)

as with a woman

The way he treats the man is the same way he would treat a woman. AT: "just like he would with a woman" (See: Simile)

something detestable

"something shameful" or "something repulsive"

They must surely be put to death

This can be translated in active form. AT: "You must surely put them to death" (See: Active or Passive)

They must be burned, both he and the women

This can be translated in active form. AT: "You must burn to death both the man and the women" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

had relations with

evil

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

משכבי אשה means he inserts as a brush into a tube [i.e. in the manner of marital intercourse].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Leviticus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 14 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mishkâb (“bed”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. How does “bed” (mishkâb) shape what this verse is saying?
  2. Genesis 49:4 shares the word «bed» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
  3. “to die” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  4. These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
  5. The verb «יִשְׁכַּ֤ב» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
  6. Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

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