Leviticus 20:15

Summary

Leviticus 20:15 addresses a man who has sexual intercourse with an animal, stating that he is to be put to death, and that the animal itself is also to be killed. The verse uses two different grammatical constructions to describe these two acts of killing.

Key words

• shekhavto ("his copulation", H7903) — feminine singular noun in construct state with a pronominal suffix ("his"), meaning literally "his lying/copulation," here governed by the verb yiten ("he will give").
• mot ("certainly ", H4191) — infinitive absolute of the same root as the following verb; it does not stand alone but intensifies the verb yumat.
• yumat ("he will be put to death", H4191) — hophal (causative-passive) imperfect, third person masculine singular; paired with mot it forms the emphatic construction "he shall surely be put to death."
• taharogu ("you will kill", H2026) — qal imperfect, second person masculine plural, addressed to a group rather than to an individual.
• 'et-habbehemah ("the animal", H0929 with H0853/H9009) — the direct object marked explicitly with the object marker 'et and the definite article, identifying the specific animal involved.

What the text says

The verse divides into two clauses with distinct grammatical subjects and verbal forms. The first clause opens with ve'ish 'asher ("and a man who," H9002+H0376G+H0834A), a relative construction identifying the offender. The verb yiten ("he will give," H5414P) governs the construct noun shekhavto ("his copulation," H7903) followed by the preposition bi ("in," H9003) and behemah ("an animal," H0929), literally "who gives his lying in an animal." The consequence for the man is expressed through the infinitive absolute plus finite verb pattern mot yumat — the infinitive mot (H4191) reinforces the finite hophal verb yumat (H4191), a construction that intensifies the verbal action rather than simply stating it.

The second clause shifts grammatical subject and person: the object 'et-habbehemah ("the animal," H0853+H9009+H0929) is marked explicitly with the definite article and object marker, and the verb taharogu (H2026) is second person masculine plural — "you all will kill." This grammatical shift means the man's death is expressed passively and impersonally (he "is put to death"), while the animal's death is expressed as an action performed directly by an addressed group ("you shall kill").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders behemah (H0929, "animal") with τετράποδι ("four-footed animal") and τὸ τετράπουν, a more specific zoological term than the Hebrew's general behemah. The Vulgate expands behemah into two terms, jumento et pecore ("beast of burden and cattle"), where the Hebrew has a single noun. The Vulgate also renders the plural Hebrew verb taharogu ("you all will kill") as an imperative plural occidite ("kill!"), shifting from a stated future action to a direct command.