Leviticus 20:12 (LSB)

Passage

If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Nearby Context

Leviticus 20:10 ‘If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus 20:11 If there is a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Leviticus 20:12 If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Leviticus 20:13 If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Leviticus 20:14 If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is lewdness; both he and they shall be burned with fire so that there will be no lewdness in your midst.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "lies", "daughter-in-law", "both", "shall", "surely", "death", "committed", and "perversion". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "lies" and "daughter-in-law", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "If there is a man who lies..." into verse 13's "If there is a man who lies...", so "lies" and "daughter-in-law" belong inside that flow. In Leviticus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "lies" and "daughter-in-law" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.