complete verse (Leviticus 20:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 20:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “And if a woman turns herself to an animal and they mate, kill that woman and the animal because they brought it on themselves.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “’If anyone, man or woman, has intercourse with an animal, he/she must be killed. Along with [them], the animal must also be killed. Such a person is guilty of a great crime. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “If a man or woman has-sexual-relations-together with an animal, he and the animal must be-killed/be-put-to-death. They (are) responsible for their (own) death.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘Similarly, if a woman has sex with an animal, both the woman and that animal must be killed ; they are responsible for their own deaths.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 20:16

Approaches … and lies with: that is, enters into contact with an animal for the purpose of having sexual relations with it. See 18.6 and 15.18.

You: as in the previous verse, this is the impersonal use of the second person singular pronoun and may be translated by a passive or some other impersonal or indefinite form.

They shall be put to death: this is the same emphatic construction used in verses 2, 4, 9, 10, and so forth. Compare 19.20.

Their blood is upon them: see verse 11.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .