Law Archives - Nina Paley

Sins and Punishments

Further to this Handy Guide to Sin and Guilt Offerings, I asked Grok to generate this table of Old testament sins and their corresponding punishments. Now you know what to do! You’re welcome.

Sin / Offense	Reference(s)	Punishment
Sacrificing children to Molech (child sacrifice)	Lev 20:2–5	Stoned to death by the people; God also sets His face against the person (and family/followers if the community fails to act) and cuts them off
Turning to mediums or spiritists	Lev 20:6; Lev 19:31	God sets His face against the person and cuts them off from their people
Being a medium or spiritist (man or woman)	Lev 20:27	Put to death by stoning; their blood is on their own head
Witchcraft / sorcery, divination, interpreting omens, casting spells, consulting the dead (and related occult practices)	Deut 18:10–12; also Exod 22:18 (sorceress)	These practices are detestable; the nations are driven out because of them. (Death penalty is applied to practitioners in related texts such as Lev 20:27)
Cursing one’s father or mother	Lev 20:9	Put to death; bloodguilt is upon them
Adultery (with a neighbor’s wife)	Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22	Both the man and the woman put to death
Sexual relations with father’s wife (incest)	Lev 20:11	Both put to death; their blood is on their own heads
Sexual relations with daughter-in-law (incest)	Lev 20:12	Both put to death; their blood is on their own heads
Homosexual acts (a man lying with a man as with a woman)	Lev 20:13	Both put to death; their blood is on their own heads
Marrying a woman and her mother (incestuous marriage)	Lev 20:14	The man and both women burned to death
Bestiality (man with animal)	Lev 20:15	Man put to death; the animal also killed
Bestiality (woman with animal)	Lev 20:16	Both woman and animal put to death; their blood is on their own heads
Sexual relations with a sister (or half-sister)	Lev 20:17	Both cut off / removed from their people; the man bears his guilt
Sexual relations during a woman’s menstrual period	Lev 20:18	Both cut off from their people
Sexual relations with an aunt (mother’s or father’s sister)	Lev 20:19	Both bear their own guilt / responsibility
Sexual relations with an uncle’s wife	Lev 20:20	Both bear their guilt and will die childless
Marrying a brother’s wife (while brother is alive)	Lev 20:21	They will be childless
Blasphemy (cursing / uttering the name of the Lord in a curse)	Lev 24:10–16	Put to death by stoning by the whole community (applies to native and foreigner alike)
False prophet or dreamer who leads people to follow other gods	Deut 13:1–5	Put to death; purge the evil from among you
Enticing others (even close family or friends) to worship other gods	Deut 13:6–11	Put to death by stoning (the enticer’s hand first, then the people); show no pity
A whole town turning to idolatry	Deut 13:12–18	Investigate thoroughly; if true, destroy the town and its people and livestock by the sword; burn the town as a whole burnt offering; leave it a permanent ruin
Worshiping other gods or the heavenly bodies	Deut 17:2–7	Stoned to death (after thorough investigation and on the testimony of two or three witnesses)
Rebellious / stubborn son who will not obey parents (glutton and drunkard)	Deut 21:18–21	Parents bring him to the elders; all the men of the town stone him to death; purge the evil from among you
A betrothed virgin who is promiscuous (found not to be a virgin)	Deut 22:13–21	Stoned to death at the door of her father’s house
Rape of a betrothed virgin in the city (she did not cry for help)	Deut 22:23–24	Both the man and the woman stoned to death
Rape of a betrothed virgin in the countryside	Deut 22:25–27	Only the man is put to death (the woman is innocent)
Murder (intentional)	Lev 24:17; Deut 19:11–13	Put to death (no ransom or refuge for the intentional murderer)

“Objective Justice” for Alex

A Hundred Dollar Drawing. This one, “Objective Justice,” was a stumper!

Exodus 32: THE LAW

Note: Moses is a prophet of Islam, as well as Judaism and Christianity. The Law he delivers in Exodus is foundational to all Abrahamic religions.

Exodus 32:

7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.

16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.

18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.

19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

20 And he took the calf which they had made,

and burnt it in the fire,

and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water,

and made the children of Israel drink of it.

21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?

22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.

23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)

26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.

28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.

31 And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

33 And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.

35 And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

Moses Brings THE LAW

Moses returning from Mt. Sinai, about to open a can of holy whoop-ass on those goddesses.

Reddit IAmA today, 2-4pm EST

Proof? Here’s your proof.

Head on over here between 2 and 4pm EST today, Friday February 27.

UPDATE: Reddit is not allowing me to post. On my own IAMA. Granted, this IAMA was set up by someone else, who said he had duly submitted my handle (Nina_Paley, created a week ago) to the mods. But it didn’t work. I was on the calendar, but I can’t respond to questions. I am not happy about this but mods aren’t responding, so I give up. You can AMA on Twitter instead.

UPDATE 2: after half an hour the problem was corrected, and I went back and answered questions.

Reddit AMA – Friday February 27

I’ll be doing a Reddit AMA next Friday February 27, along with Sherwin Siy of Public Knowledge, for Fair Use Week. We’ll be on 2-4pm EST, a.k.a. 1-3pm CST. Ask Me Anything!