Leviticus 19:19 — Kilayim Laws
Leviticus 19:19 gives parallel kilayim prohibitions (two kinds in fields, mixed fabric) within the Holiness Code; Deuteronomy 22:9–11 expands and applies them with the vineyard, yoke, and garment examples
Deuteronomy 22
Covenant Order: Neighbor, Creation, and Sexual Holiness
The chapter moves from concrete acts of community care for neighbor and creature (vv. 1–8), through laws protecting created distinctions in the natural order (vv. 9–12), into a sustained legislation of sexual holiness, marital fidelity, and covenant purity (vv. 13–30), grounding neighbor-love and sexual ethics together in the covenant order Israel bears before God.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) , Public Domain · Translation notes · Reference sources
Biblical Theology
How This Chapter Fits
Theological Argument
Deuteronomy 22 argues that covenant identity is not an abstract theological status but an ordering of all of life: how Israel treats a brother's straying donkey, how they build their roofs, how they dress, and above all how they guard sexual fidelity. The chapter is unified by the conviction that Israel's God is an ordering God who created kinds, called a distinct people, and binds himself to them in covenant. Violation of created order or sexual covenant is not merely social infraction; it is a desecration of the fabric of covenant life and an abomination before Yahweh.
From concrete neighbor-care and creation-respecting laws (vv. 1–12) to the intensive legislation of sexual covenant (vv. 13–30), showing that the same covenantal logic governs both the small and the weighty.
- Neighbor-love is not sentiment but action: returning what is lost, lifting what has fallen, building what protects (vv. 1–4, 8)
- Creational order carries theological weight: gender distinctions, species categories, and material distinctions are not arbitrary but reflect Yahweh's ordering of creation and Israel's distinct calling (vv. 5, 9–11)
- Sexual faithfulness is covenant faithfulness: marriage is not a private arrangement but a public covenant order upheld by the community's legal structures (vv. 13–30)
- The guilty and the coerced are distinguished by context: God's law protects the violated and holds the violator accountable (vv. 25–27)
- The chapter ends by protecting household covenant integrity against internal violation (v. 30)
Christological Focus
Christ fulfills and deepens Deuteronomy 22's covenant order. He who is the perfect neighbor who seeks the lost without ignoring the need (Luke 15; John 10) also teaches the full internalization of sexual holiness (Matt 5:27–30) and defines the inviolability of marriage in terms that go behind Moses to creation itself (Matt 19:4–9). Christ's death bears the curse attached to covenant violation (Gal 3:13), redeeming those who have broken the very laws this chapter upholds...
Deuteronomy 22 argues that covenant identity is not an abstract theological status but an ordering of all of life: how Israel treats a brother's straying donkey, how they build their roofs, how they dress, and above all how they guard sexual fidelity. The chapter is unified by the conviction that Israel's God is an ordering God who created kinds, called a distinct people, and binds himself to them in covenant...
Covenant Significance
Chapter 22 is a sustained demonstration that the Sinai covenant was never only about temple and sacrifice but about the ordering of all creaturely life under Yahweh's authority. Property law, dress, bird nests, fabric weave, and marriage are all domains where covenant loyalty or covenant betrayal is possible. The land-blessing formula attached to both the mother bird (v. 7) and the parapet's bloodguilt protection (v...
- Property return is a covenant obligation: 'you may not ignore it' (v. 3) removes the option of disengagement from neighbor need
- The land-life blessing ('that it may go well with you and that you may live long', v. 7) directly ties creation care to covenant life
- The marriage laws protect the covenant social order: marriage, betrothal, and household are not purely private but covenant-governed institutions
- The distinction between city and field (vv. 23–27) shows covenant law's attention to context in determining guilt, not merely outcome
- Lev 19:19 (kilayim laws in parallel)
Formation
Theological Burden Covenant holiness is total: it touches property, animals, garments, crops, and bodies. Israel is to be a community that images the ordered, faithful character of Yahweh in every domain of life.
Pastoral Burden The community must become a place that actively protects the vulnerable, enforces covenant accountability, and refuses to privatize holiness into mere interior attitude.
Character Aim An active, attentive, ordered love that does not look away from neighbor need, honors created distinctions, and maintains sexual fidelity as a covenant obligation, not merely a personal virtue
- Develop structures of community accountability that take seriously both marital covenant and the protection of the violated
- Teach creation-care as a biblical practice rooted in Torah, not only in contemporary environmentalism
- Cultivate the habit of neighbor-attention: do not pass by what a brother or sister has lost or left fallen
- Be explicit in sexual ethics formation: the church that does not teach the gravity of covenant fidelity leaves its members unformed in the very domain this chapter treats as most weighty
Canonical Connections
Numbers 15:38–40 — Tassels Command
Numbers 15 gives the foundational command for tassels (tzitzit) with the blue cord; Deuteronomy 22:12 reiterates the obligation in the plural, binding it to the garment's four corners
Leviticus 20:10 — Adultery Death Penalty
Leviticus 20:10 establishes the mutual death penalty for adultery; Deuteronomy 22:22 reaffirms it within the covenant-renewal context
Matthew 5:27–30 — Internalization of Sexual Holiness
Jesus radicalizes the sexual holiness of Deuteronomy 22 to the level of the heart: the law forbade the act; Jesus forbids the desire that produces the act, showing the law's creational depth
Matthew 19:4–9 — Marriage, Divorce, and Creation Order
Jesus' appeal to the creation order in answering the Pharisees on divorce goes behind Moses to Genesis 1–2, showing that Deuteronomy 22's marriage laws are themselves grounded in creation theology
Various Laws
Deuteronomy 22:1-4
The LORD's holy people must not hide from a neighbor's loss; they must restore what is lost, safeguard what cannot yet be returned, and help lift what has fallen.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to Deuteronomy’s theology of covenant life by showing that righteousness in the land includes restorative responsibility toward a brother’s ordinary possessions and burdens. The LORD’s redeemed people are to mirror His covenant concern by refusing apathy, reversing loss where possible, protecting what belongs to another, and helping t...
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's detailed stipulations, this passage shows that covenant holiness reaches ordinary moments of loss, inconvenience, and neighborly responsibility. It expands righteousness beyond avoiding theft to include active restoration, temporary stewardship, and refusal to hide from another...
Canonical Links
Exodus 23:4-5 Formation Counterpart
Exodus gives a close Torah counterpart, requiring restoration and assistance even when the animal belongs to an enemy, thereby strengthening Deuteronomy's demand that need override...
Luke 10:25-37 Formation Counterpart
Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan develops the same moral horizon of refusing to pass by need, though Deuteronomy 22 addresses lost property and fallen animals within Israel's c...
1 If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; be sure to return it to your brother.
2 If your brother does not live near you, or if you do not know who he is, you are to take the animal home to remain with you until your brother comes seeking it; then you can return it to him.
3 And you shall do the same for his donkey, his cloak, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it.
4 If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.
Deuteronomy 22:5
The LORD's holy people must not treat embodied male and female distinction as disposable; covenant holiness reaches even the visible ways people present themselves before God and one another.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to biblical theology by joining creation-shaped male-female distinction to covenant holiness. Deuteronomy assumes that the redeemed people’s bodies, dress, and public presentation are not morally neutral spaces detached from the LORD’s claim...
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's detailed stipulations, this passage shows that covenant holiness includes the visible preservation of creational distinction in embodied life. It contributes a concise but weighty link between Israel's holiness and the refusal to make male and female presentation interchangeable...
Canonical Links
Genesis 1:27 Creation And Image
The command presupposes the created distinction of male and female in the image of God, grounding Deuteronomy's concern in creation rather than mere local custom.
1 Corinthians 11:3-16 Formation Counterpart
Paul addresses visible male-female distinction in worship and community life in a different covenant setting, showing that embodied signs of distinction remain ethically significan...
5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 22:6-7
The LORD's holy people must learn merciful restraint in ordinary dealings with vulnerable life, taking only what is permitted while preserving life and future fruitfulness before Him.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to biblical theology by joining creation stewardship, mercy, and covenant blessing. Humanity is permitted to receive food and benefit from creation, yet that permission is bounded by the Creator’s command. Israel’s dominion must not become exploitative appetite...
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's detailed stipulations, this passage contributes a concrete ethic of restrained dominion: Israel may take from creation, but not in a way that destroys the life-bearing source...
Canonical Links
Leviticus 22:28 Formation Counterpart
Leviticus similarly forbids slaughtering a cow or sheep and its young on the same day, showing a Torah pattern in which legitimate use of animals is restrained by mercy and concern...
Deuteronomy 25:4 Formation Counterpart
The command not to muzzle an ox while it treads grain parallels Deuteronomy 22:6-7 by showing that covenant righteousness includes treatment of working and vulnerable animals, not...
Matthew 10:29-31 Formation Counterpart
Jesus' teaching that not one sparrow falls apart from the Father's care does not directly fulfill this law, but it confirms the biblical horizon in which small creatures are not be...
6 If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.
7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
Deuteronomy 22:8
The LORD's people must design ordinary household life to protect human life, because negligence that endangers others is morally accountable before Him.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to Deuteronomy's theology of life in the land by showing that the LORD's people must order built environments under love of neighbor and reverence for innocent life. The promised land is not merely possessed; it must be inhabited with wisdom, foresight, and communal responsibility.
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's detailed land-life stipulations, this passage contributes the principle that household architecture and domestic responsibility belong under covenant righteousness...
Canonical Links
Exodus 21:28-36 Formation Counterpart
Exodus treats foreseeable danger from an animal as morally accountable when negligence is involved, paralleling Deuteronomy 22:8 by requiring covenant life to prevent avoidable har...
Deuteronomy 19:10 Formation Counterpart
The cities-of-refuge section warns against innocent blood being shed in the land; Deuteronomy 22:8 applies the same concern at the household level by preventing bloodguilt from a f...
Romans 13:8-10 Formation Counterpart
Paul teaches that love does no harm to a neighbor and fulfills the law; this does not directly quote Deuteronomy 22:8, but it expresses the ethical trajectory that neighbor-love ac...
8 If you build a new house, you are to construct a railing around your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.
Deuteronomy 22:9
Israel's vineyards must be cultivated according to the LORD's ordered holiness, not by mixing seed in a way that compromises the crop and forfeits its ordinary use.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to Deuteronomy's theology of holy life in the land: Israel's inheritance is not morally neutral space, and fruitfulness must be received within the LORD's ordering word. The law teaches that the covenant people are to cultivate creation without erasing the distinctions God places around their life and labor.
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's land-life stipulations, this passage contributes the principle that Israel's agricultural fruitfulness must be governed by holy distinction, not merely by productivity...
Canonical Links
Leviticus 19:19 Formation Counterpart
Leviticus gives a broader holiness command against mixing animals, seed, and fabrics; Deuteronomy 22:9 applies this ordered-boundary concern specifically to the vineyard in the lan...
Deuteronomy 14:1-2 Formation Counterpart
Israel's identity as the LORD's children and treasured possession grounds distinctive practices; Deuteronomy 22:9 applies this holiness identity to agricultural cultivation.
John 15:1-8 Fulfillment Anticipation
John's vine imagery is not a direct fulfillment of Deuteronomy 22:9, but it develops the canonical theme that true fruitfulness belongs under God's appointed order and life-giving...
9 Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; if you do, the entire harvest will be defiled—both the crop you plant and the fruit of your vineyard.
Deuteronomy 22:10
Israel must not yoke an ox and a donkey together for plowing, because work in the land must honor the LORD's ordered holiness and protect creatures from distorted labor arrangements.
Biblical Theology
The verse contributes to Deuteronomy's theology of covenant holiness by showing that Israel's distinctiveness must shape ordinary economic practices. The land is not merely productive space; it is covenant space. Work animals are not merely tools; they are creatures whose limits must be respected...
Theological Movement
This passage adds to Deuteronomy's land-life instruction by showing that covenant holiness governs the conditions and pairings of labor itself. Israel must not merely ask whether the field is productive, but whether the means of production conform to the LORD's ordered wisdom.
Canonical Links
Leviticus 19:19 Formation Counterpart
Leviticus gives the broader holiness rule against mixed breeding, mixed seed, and mixed fabrics; Deuteronomy 22:10 applies the same ordered-boundary concern to agricultural labor w...
Deuteronomy 22:9 Formation Counterpart
The preceding command forbids mixed seed in the vineyard; verse 10 continues the boundary-preserving cluster by forbidding mixed draft animals in plowing.
Deuteronomy 22:11 Formation Counterpart
The following command forbids mixed wool and linen, completing a compact sequence of seed, animal, and fabric distinctions within covenant holiness.
10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
Deuteronomy 22:11
Israel's clothing was to witness to ordered covenant holiness: the people set apart for the LORD were not to blur the boundaries He commanded, even in the fabric of ordinary life.
Biblical Theology
The verse contributes to the theology of holiness as visible, embodied, and ordinary. Israel is not only to worship differently at the chosen place; Israel is to live differently in the field, at home, and in clothing...
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's land-life stipulations, this passage carries the ordered-boundary principle from field and labor into personal appearance. It shows that Israel's covenant distinctiveness was to be practiced not only in public worship or court justice but also in the ordinary materials that touc...
Canonical Links
Leviticus 19:19 Formation Counterpart
Leviticus gives the broader holiness rule against mixed breeding, mixed seed, and mixed-material garments; Deuteronomy 22:11 restates the fabric portion by naming wool and linen to...
Deuteronomy 22:9-10 Formation Counterpart
The preceding commands forbid mixed seed in the vineyard and an unequal pairing of ox and donkey; verse 11 completes the compact sequence by applying ordered distinction to clothin...
Deuteronomy 22:12 Formation Counterpart
The following tassel command also concerns garments, moving from what Israel must not weave together to what Israel must attach to clothing as covenant remembrance.
11 Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.
Deuteronomy 22:12
Israel was to wear tassels as visible covenant reminders, so that daily clothing testified that the people who belonged to the LORD were to remember and obey His commands.
Biblical Theology
The command contributes to the biblical theology of visible covenant identity. Israel’s clothing is not merely private preference; it is shaped into a public and repeated reminder of belonging to the LORD...
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's ordinary-life stipulations, this passage moves from boundary-marked clothing in verse 11 to reminder-marked clothing in verse 12. It shows that Israel's garments were not only to reflect ordered distinction but also to serve as daily aids for covenant memory and commandment-shap...
Canonical Links
Numbers 15:37-41 Formation Counterpart
Numbers explains the tassels as a commanded visual aid so Israel would remember and obey the LORD's commands rather than follow the lusts of the heart and eyes; Deuteronomy 22:12 g...
Matthew 23:5 Formation Counterpart
Jesus later rebukes religious leaders who enlarge their garment tassels for public display, showing how an external reminder of obedience can be corrupted into self-exalting perfor...
Jeremiah 31:31-34 Fulfillment Anticipation
The tassels testify to Israel's need for remembrance; the promised new covenant answers the deeper need by placing the LORD's law within His people and writing it on their hearts.
12 You are to make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.
Marriage Violations
Deuteronomy 22:13-21
The LORD requires covenant justice in sexual and household cases: malicious accusation must be exposed and punished, while proven sexual rebellion must not be ignored among His holy people.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to the biblical theology of covenant holiness in the household and the gate. Marriage is not treated as a private arena where power may operate unchecked. The LORD’s covenant community must protect truthful reputation, examine accusations, punish slander, and address proven covenant-breaking...
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's ordinary-life laws, this passage extends covenant holiness into the private-public boundary of marriage, sexuality, family honor, and legal evidence...
Canonical Links
Deuteronomy 19:15-21 Formation Counterpart
Deuteronomy's witness-justice law requires careful investigation and proportionate penalty for malicious accusation; Deuteronomy 22:13-21 applies that concern to a marriage accusat...
Exodus 20:14-16 Covenant Background
The case law guards two Decalogue concerns at once: the sanctity of sexual covenant and the prohibition of false witness against a neighbor.
Matthew 5:27-32 Fulfillment Anticipation
Jesus presses sexual righteousness beyond external adjudication into the heart, showing that the law's concern for sexual integrity reaches deeper than public evidence alone.
13 Suppose a man marries a woman, has relations with her, and comes to hate her,
14 and he then accuses her of shameful conduct and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman and had relations with her, but I discovered she was not a virgin.”
15 Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate
16 and say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he has come to hate her.
17 And now he has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ But here is the proof of her virginity.” And they shall spread out the cloth before the city elders.
18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him.
19 They are also to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given a virgin of Israel a bad name. And she shall remain his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.
20 If, however, this accusation is true, and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found,
21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 22:22
Adultery violates the covenant order of marriage and neighbor love so seriously that Israel must judge it as evil to be purged from among the people.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to Deuteronomy’s theology of covenant holiness by showing that Israel’s allegiance to the LORD reaches into marriage, sexuality, testimony, and public justice. The land is not to be inhabited by a people who call themselves the LORD’s while tolerating household treachery as a private matter.
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's sexual-integrity case laws, this passage gives the concise covenant judgment on adultery as a direct violation of another household's marriage bond...
Canonical Links
Exodus 20:14 Covenant Background
The seventh commandment forbids adultery; Deuteronomy 22:22 gives a specific covenant judicial sanction for a proven violation of that command.
Leviticus 20:10 Formation Counterpart
Leviticus states the same capital judgment for adultery with another man's wife, confirming that Deuteronomy 22:22 is part of the wider Torah witness concerning sexual covenant-bre...
Deuteronomy 5:18 Covenant Background
Deuteronomy's restatement of the covenant words includes the prohibition of adultery; this case law applies that covenant word to a concrete judicial situation.
22 If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
Deuteronomy 22:23-24
Israel must guard betrothal, sexual integrity, and covenant justice by judging proven consensual violation of a betrothed woman in the city as evil to be removed from the community.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to Deuteronomy’s theology of covenant holiness by showing that sexual conduct, betrothal, public justice, and neighbor integrity all belong under the LORD’s command. Israel’s life in the land is to reflect truth, faithfulness, and ordered justice in the most intimate and socially consequential relationships.
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's sexual-integrity case laws, this passage strengthens the covenant status of betrothal by treating violation of a betrothed woman as violation of another man's wife...
Canonical Links
Exodus 20:14 Covenant Background
The seventh commandment forbids adultery; Deuteronomy 22:23-24 applies that covenant word to a betrothal case where the woman is pledged to another man.
Deuteronomy 5:18 Covenant Background
The restated covenant words prohibit adultery; this passage shows how Deuteronomy's case laws guard that command within Israel's covenant society.
Deuteronomy 22:22 Formation Counterpart
The preceding adultery case provides the closest legal counterpart, establishing that sexual relations with another man's wife are covenant-defiling evil.
23 If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her,
24 you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 22:25-27
Israel must judge sexual assault with moral clarity by condemning the violent man, absolving the assaulted woman, and refusing to turn a victim's helplessness into guilt.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to Deuteronomy’s theology of covenant justice by distinguishing guilt from victimhood. Israel’s holiness in the land requires sexual righteousness, but it also requires just judgment that identifies coercion, protects the innocent, punishes the perpetrator, and refuses to place guilt where the LORD’s law says there is none.
Theological Movement
Within Deuteronomy's sexual-case laws, this passage makes a major moral distinction explicit: an assaulted woman is not guilty for the violence done against her. By comparing sexual assault to murder, the text contributes a strong covenant-justice category in which coercive sexual violation is treat...
Canonical Links
Exodus 20:13 Covenant Background
The command not to murder stands behind this passage's analogy: the assault is like a man rising against his neighbor and murdering him.
Exodus 20:14 Covenant Background
The seventh commandment supplies the wider covenant concern for sexual holiness, while this case distinguishes coercive assault from consensual adultery.
Deuteronomy 19:11-13 Covenant Background
The murder law clarifies the analogy used here: deliberate violence against a neighbor deserves judgment and must not be shielded by false mercy.
25 But if the man encounters a betrothed woman in the open country, and he overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who has done this must die.
26 Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him.
27 When he found her in the field, the betrothed woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29
A man who sexually violates an unbetrothed woman may not abandon her after taking what was not his; Israel's law imposes restitution and lasting obligation in order to restrain exploitation and protect the vulnerable within the covenant community.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to Deuteronomy’s theology of holiness by insisting that sexual conduct, household order, public justice, and future protection all belong under the LORD’s covenant rule. The law restrains the powerful male actor, imposes cost and permanence on him, and refuses to let sexual wrong be treated as a disposable private incident.
Theological Movement
Deuteronomy adds a concrete civil remedy for sexual violation involving an unbetrothed woman, making clear that the covenant community must not allow a man to satisfy desire and then discard the harmed woman...
Canonical Links
Exodus 22:16-17 Covenant Background
The earlier Torah case concerning a man who seduces an unbetrothed virgin supplies important covenant background for bride-price responsibility and the father's ability to refuse t...
Exodus 20:14 Covenant Background
The seventh commandment grounds the broader covenant concern that sexual relations belong under God's holy ordering rather than human appetite or exploitation.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 Covenant Background
The later divorce legislation clarifies normal divorce procedures, while Deuteronomy 22:29 prohibits this man from sending away the woman he violated, intensifying his continuing r...
28 If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered,
29 then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.
Deuteronomy 22:30
Israel must guard sexual holiness even inside the household by refusing any union with a father's wife, because such sin dishonors the father's bed and corrupts the covenant family from within.
Biblical Theology
The passage contributes to the Torah’s theology of holiness by showing that the LORD’s covenant order reaches into household structure and sexual boundaries. The father’s wife is not available for a son’s taking, because marriage and kinship are not raw social arrangements to be rearranged by desire, power, or rivalry...
Theological Movement
Deuteronomy closes this sexual-integrity section by extending covenant holiness to the father's marriage bed, making clear that Israel's ordered life before the LORD must include guarded household boundaries...
Canonical Links
Leviticus 18:8 Covenant Background
Leviticus gives the fuller holiness-code prohibition against uncovering the nakedness of a father's wife, explaining that it is the father's nakedness.
Leviticus 20:11 Covenant Background
Leviticus attaches covenant sanction to the same forbidden relation, showing the gravity of a man lying with his father's wife.
Deuteronomy 27:20 Covenant Background
The covenant curses later name the same offense, declaring cursed the man who sleeps with his father's wife because he dishonors his father's bed.
30 A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.