Puneet Varma (Editor)

List of capital crimes in the Torah

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List of capital crimes in the Torah

According to the Torah or Law of Moses, these are the offenses which may merit the death penalty in a Jewish Beth din court of 23 judges.

Contents

Religious practices

  • Sacrificing to gods other than YHWH
  • Passing children through the fire to/as [MLK]. The triconsonantal root MLK has traditionally been translated as if it were the name of an otherwise unattested deity - Moloch - but may just describe a type of sacrifice. It is generally thought that this refers to a form of human sacrifice similar to that of which the Phoenicians (particularly in Carthage) have historically been widely accused However, the Septuagint reads "You shall not give your seed to serve a ruler", suggesting that the root M-L-K should be more properly rendered as 'king/ruler'.
  • Worshiping Baal Peor
  • False prophecy
  • Necromancy, according to the Masoretic Text; specifically those who are masters over ghosts (Hebrew: Ba'al ob) and those who gain information from the dead (Hebrew: Yidde'oni). The Septuagint instead condemns gastromancy (Greek: eggastrimuthos), and enchantment (Greek: epaoidos).
  • According to the Masoretic Text, practitioners of kashaph - incanting maleficium. According to the Septuagint version of the same passages, pharmakeia - poisoners. Historically this passage has been translated into English using vague terminology, condemning witchcraft in general.
  • Blasphemy
  • Sabbath breaking
  • A foreigner (outsider) who gets close to the tabernacle

    • Sexual practices

  • Rape by a man of a betrothed woman in the countryside
  • Being either participant in consensual sexual activity, in which a betrothed woman consensually loses her virginity to a man
  • Adultery with a married woman
  • Loss of virginity by a woman prior to marriage, to someone other than her husband while falsely representing herself as a virgin before the marriage ceremony
  • Marrying one's wife's mother
  • Certain forms of incest, namely if it involves the father's wife or a daughter-in-law. Other forms of incest receive lesser punishment; sexual activity with a sister/stepsister is given excommunication for a punishment; if it involves a brother's wife or an uncle's wife it is just cursed and sexual activity with an aunt that is a blood relation is merely criticized.
  • Male on male sexual intercourse. Certain sexual activities between males (Hebrew: zakhar) involving what the Masoretic Text literally terms lie lyings (of a) woman (Hebrew: tishkav mishkvei ishah), and the Septuagint literally terms beds [verb] the woman's/wife's bed (Greek: koimethese koiten gynaikos); the gender of the target of the command is commonly understood to be male, but not explicitly stated. The correct translation and interpretation of this passage, and its implications for Homosexuality in Judaism and Homosexuality in Christianity, are controversial. Translations into English are wide-ranging.
  • Bestiality
  • Prostitution by the daughter of a priest

    • Miscellaneous

  • Murder, believed by Jews to apply to non-Jews (or Noachides), as well
  • Negligent homicide, specifically by ox-goring, if already warned about the behavior of the ox. Death punishment is no longer required if the interested party requires payment of a fee. The death penalty does not apply to ox-goring of slaves.
  • Smiting a parent
  • Cursing a parent
  • A son who persists in disobeying his parents
  • Kidnapping
  • Contempt of court
  • False witness to a capital crime

    • References

    List of capital crimes in the Torah Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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