Leviticus 20:13 is a law from Israel’s covenant code that names sex between two men as an “abomination” and prescribes the death penalty for it. Read in its original setting, it is part of God’s instructions to a nation he was forming to live apart from the sexual practices of the surrounding peoples. The words were spoken by the LORD to Moses, who passed them on to the people of Israel as they prepared to enter the land of Canaan.
“‘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.
Leviticus 20:13 (WEB)
What Leviticus 20:13 Means
The verse begins with a plain case: “If a man lies with a male, as with a woman.” The Hebrew phrase refers to sexual intercourse, and the comparison to lying with a woman makes clear the act in view. The law is not describing affection, friendship or companionship. It is naming a specific sexual act and placing it within a set of prohibitions about family and sexual boundaries.
The verse then calls the act an “abomination,” a word the Old Testament uses for things that are offensive to God and that break the order he has established. Both participants are held responsible, and the penalty is stated as death, with the words “their blood shall be upon them” meaning that the guilt rests on those who did it. The verse does not describe how this penalty was carried out in practice, and most readers across Jewish and Christian history have not treated it as a directive for present-day legal systems. It does establish that, in this covenant, the act was regarded as grave.
What the verse does not do is speak about a person’s inner orientation, identity or the many other ways people relate to one another with love and loyalty. It addresses a specific act within the covenant law given to Israel, and it should be read with that limited scope in mind.
The Context of Leviticus 20:13
Leviticus is the third book of the Torah, traditionally attributed to Moses, and it focuses on holiness, worship and the way the people of Israel were to live as a set-apart community before the LORD. Chapter 20 belongs to a section of laws that spell out the consequences of breaking the covenant, including child sacrifice, sorcery, and a series of sexual offenses. The chapter opens with the LORD speaking directly to Moses and then to the people, so the audience is the whole nation of Israel.
The verses just before and after it deal with adultery, incest, and sexual relations with relatives or animals, each joined by the same refrain about death and bloodguilt. Seen in that sequence, Leviticus 20:13 is one item in a list of sexual boundaries that God set to mark Israel off from the surrounding nations. This setting shapes how the verse reads: it is a covenant law addressed to a particular people, placed alongside other laws about family and sexual order, rather than a freestanding statement about every question a person might bring to it today.
Key Phrases in Leviticus 20:13
Romans 1:26-27
26 For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.
(WEB)
Paul addresses sexual behavior in his letter to the Romans, placing it within a larger account of human rebellion against God. Reading this passage alongside Leviticus helps show how the New Testament continues the Old Testament’s concern for sexual holiness.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. 11 Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
(WEB)
This passage lists various sins that exclude people from God’s kingdom and then speaks of cleansing, justification and new life in Christ. It shows how the church understood the grace of the gospel in relation to the moral boundaries of Scripture.
A Short Prayer From Leviticus 20:13
Lord, you are holy, and your law shows us what it means to live as your people. When I read a hard passage like this one, help me to listen carefully, to trust your wisdom and to resist the urge to use Scripture against anyone. Give me humility about my own failures and a deep love for the people around me. Shape my heart by your truth and your grace, and let my life reflect the holiness you call every one of your children to pursue. Amen.
