The impression I have formed over some years is that
there is a very specific reason for the death penalty
in scripture, and that reason is almost completely
absent from contemporary discussion of the merits
of the death penalty in civil jurisprudence. So, I am
trying here to gather a complete list of death penalty
law from scripture. That is the first column of the table.
If you know of one that I have missed, please
tell me about it.
The purpose of the table is to fill in the last column,
headed "why". As I start the collation of this table, I
expect the reason in that column to always resemble the
end of Deuteronomy 13:5:
Exodus
| reference | offence | how | why |
|---|
| one word | biblical language |
|---|
| Exodus
21:12 | murder | He that smiteth a man, so that
he die | shall be surely put to death |
| Exodus
21:14 | murder | if a man come presumptuously upon his
neighbour, to slay him with guile | thou shalt take him from mine
altar, that he may die. |
| Exodus
21:15 | smiting father or
mother | he that smiteth his father, or his
mother | shall be surely put to death |
| Exodus
21:16 | man stealing | he that stealeth a man,
and selleth him, or if he be
found in his hand | he shall surely be put to death | |
| Exodus
21:17 | cursing father or
mother | he that curseth his father, or his
mother | shall surely be put to death |
| Exodus
21:18-19 |
personal injury in a fight | if men strive together, and one smite
another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not | he that smote
him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him
to be thoroughly healed |
| Exodus
21:20-21 | smiting servant eventuating in
death - not capital | if a man smite his servant,
or his maid, with a rod, and
he die under his hand | he shall be surely punished |
| Exodus
21:22-25 | accidentally triggering miscarriage | If men
strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from
her | if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life |
| Exodus
22:2 | surprising a thief in the act - not capital | If a
thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die | there shall
no blood be shed for him |
| Exodus
22:18 | witchcraft | | Thou shalt not suffer a
witch to live |
| Exodus
22:19 | bestiality | Whosoever lieth with a
beast | shall surely be put to death |
| Exodus
22:20 | idolatry | He that sacrificeth unto any god,
save unto the LORD only | he shall be utterly destroyed |
Numbers
| reference | offence | how | why |
|---|
| one word | biblical language |
|---|
| Numbers
1:51 | threaten the tabernacle of testimony | the
stranger that cometh nigh | shall be put to death | |
| Numbers
14:10 | | this one is an improper reference
to stoning - the
people proposed to stone Moses for provoking them | | |
| Numbers
15:32-35 | sabbath violation | a man that gathered
sticks upon the sabbath day | all the
congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp | |
| Numbers
35:26-28 | manslaughter | But if the slayer shall
at any time come without
the border of the city of his refuge, whither
he was fled;
And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the
city of his refuge | and the
revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of
blood | Because he should have remained in the city of his
refuge until the death of the high priest:
but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return
into the land of his possession |
| Numbers
35:16 | murder | if he smite him with an
instrument of iron, so that he
die, he is a murderer | the
murderer shall surely be put to death | So
ye shall not pollute the land
wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land
cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by
the blood of him that shed it.
Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein
I dwell: for I the LORD dwell
among the children of Israel
|
| Numbers
35:17 | murder | if he smite him with throwing a
stone, wherewith he may
die, and he die, he is a
murderer | the murderer shall surely be put to death |
| Numbers
35:18 | murder | if he smite him with
an hand weapon of wood, wherewith
he may die, and he die, he is a
murderer | the murderer shall surely be put to
death (Note: this is the cities of refuge law and v. 19
says "The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer:
when he meeteth him, he shall slay
him" about the situations in vs. 16, 17, and 18 |
| Numbers
35:20-21 | murder | But if he thrust him of hatred, or
hurl at him by
laying of wait, that he die;
Or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he
die | he that smote him shall surely be put to
death; for he is a murderer: the revenger of blood
shall slay the murderer, when he meeteth
him |
| Numbers
35:30 | murder | Whoso killeth any person | the
murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but
one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die |
| Numbers
35:31 | murder | {Notice - no sentencing
discretion} | Moreover
ye shall take no satisfaction for
the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but
he shall be surely put to death |
| Numbers
35:32 | murder | {Notice - no sentencing
discretion} | And ye shall
take no satisfaction for him
that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should
come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest |
| Numbers
35:33-34 | murder | | {Note: Here is a statement of purpose
or reason that applies to all the murder laws in this chapter) | So
ye shall not pollute the land
wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land
cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by
the blood of him that shed it.
Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein
I dwell: for I the LORD dwell
among the children of Israel |
Deuteronomy
| reference | offence | how | why |
|---|
| one word | biblical language |
|---|
| Deuteronomy
6:2-3 | The reason for the whole
law | | | That thou mightest fear the
LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I
command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of
thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel,
and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may
increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee,
in the land that floweth with milk and honey. |
| Deuteronomy
13:1-5 | entice to idolatry | If
there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer
of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee,
saying, Let us go after
other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us
serve them | And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall
be put to death | So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst
of thee |
| Deuteronomy
13:6-10 | entice to idolatry | If
thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or
thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or
thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying,
Let us go and serve other
gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto
thee, or far off from
thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the
earth | Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him;
neither shall thine eye pity him,
neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon
him to put him to death, and
afterwards the hand of all the people.
And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die | And all
Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness
as this is among you |
| Deuteronomy
13:12-17 | idolatry | Certain men,
the children of Belial, are gone out from
among you, and have withdrawn the
inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods,
which ye have not known | Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of
that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it
utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the
edge of the sword.
16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street
thereof, and shalt burn
with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the
LORD thy God: and it shall be
an heap for ever; it shall not be built again | that the LORD
may turn
from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have
compassion upon thee, and
multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers |
| Deuteronomy
17:2-5 | idolatry | If
there be found among you, within any of thy gates
which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath
gone and served other gods, and worshipped them,
either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I
have not commanded | bring forth that man or that woman...unto thy
gates...and shalt stone them with
stones, till they die | Note verse 13, which could apply,
grammatically, to all the death penalty statutes in this chapter:
And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously |
| Deuteronomy
17;6-7 | any capital crime | | At
the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses,
shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of
one witness he shall not be put to death.
The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him
to death, and afterward the hands of all the people | So thou
shalt put the evil away from among you |
| Deuteronomy
17:12 | | And
the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken
unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD
thy God, or unto the judge | even that man shall die | and thou
shalt put away the evil from Israel |
| Deuteronomy
18:20 | false prophet | But
the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my
name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall
speak in the name of other gods | even that prophet shall
die | |
| Deuteronomy
19:11-13 | murder | But if
any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him,
and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and
fleeth into one of these cities | the elders of his city
shall send and fetch him thence,
and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he
may die | thou shalt put away the guilt
of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee |
| Deuteronomy
19:16-21 | perjury | if
the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely
against his brother | Then shall ye do unto him, as he
had thought to have done unto
his brother | - so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
- And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall
henceforth commit no more any such evil among you
|
| Deuteronomy
20:13-18 | the sins of the Canaanites | | But
thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and
the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites,
and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded
thee | That they teach you not to do after all their abominations,
which they have done unto their gods |
| Deuteronomy
21:18-21 | rebellious son | If
a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which
will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and
that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
... And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is
stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a
glutton, and a drunkard. | Then shall his father and his
mother lay hold on him, and bring
him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his
place; And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that
he die | so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all
Israel shall hear, and fear |
| Deuteronomy
21:22-23 | any capital crime | if a man have committed a
sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on
a tree | His body shall not remain all night upon the tree...that
thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance. |
| Deuteronomy
22:13-21 | marry when not a virgin | If any man take a wife,
and go in unto her, and hate her,
And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil
name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to
her, I found her not a maid: ... if this thing be true,
and the tokens of virginity be not
found for the damsel | they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of
her city shall stone her with stones that she die | so
shalt thou put evil away from among
you |
| Deuteronomy
22:22 | adultery | If a
man be found lying with a woman married
to an husband | then they shall both of them die, both the
man that lay with the woman, and the woman | so shalt
thou put away evil from Israel |
| Deuteronomy
22:23-24 | adultery | If a
damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto
an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her | Then
ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city,
and ye shall stone them with stones that they die | so thou shalt
put away evil from among you |
| Deuteronomy
22:25-27 | rape a betrothed damsel | But if a man find a
betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with
her: | the man only that lay with her shall die | |
| Deuteronomy
24:7 | kidnapping | If a
man be found stealing any of his brethren of the
children of Israel, and maketh
merchandise of him, or selleth him | then that thief
shall die | thou shalt put evil away from among you |
| Deuteronomy
24:16 | any capital offense | limitation on
applicability of capital
punishment | The
fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither
shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put
to death for his own sin | |
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