Leviticus 20:7-20

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.

Sanctify yourselves ... and be ye holy. The minute specification of the incestuous and unnatural crimes here enumerated shows their sad prevalence among the idolatrous nations around, and the extreme proneness of the Israelites to follow the customs of their neighbours. It is to be understood that whenever mention is made that the offender was "to be put to death," without describing the mode, stoning is meant. The only instance of another form of capital punishment occurs in Leviticus 20:14, that of being burnt with fire; and yet it is probable that even here death was first inflicted by stoning, and the body, of the criminal afterward consumed by five (Joshua 7:15).

Verse 20. They shall die childless. Either by the judgment of God they shall have no children, or their spurious offspring shall be denied by human authority the ordinary privileges of children in Israel.