The Pentateuch inflicts capital punishment for any one of the following crimes: adultery (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22); bestiality (Exo. 22:19); Lev. 20:15); blasphemy (Lev. 24:16); false evidence in capital cases (Deut. 19:16-19); false prophecy (Deut. 13:6, 18:20); idolatry, actual or virtual (Lev. 20:2; Deut. 13:7-19, 17:2-7); incestuous or unnatural connections (Lev. 18:22, 20:11-14); insubordination to supreme authority (Deut. 17:12); kidnaping (Ex.21:16; Deut. 24:7); licentiousness of a priest's daughter (Lev.21:9); murder (Ex. 21:12; Lev. 24:17; Num. 35:16ff.); rape committed on a betrothed woman (Deut. 22:25); striking or cursing a parent, or otherwise rebelling against parental authority (Exo. 21:15, 17; Lev.20:9; Deut. 21:18-21); Sabbath-breaking (Exo. 31:14, 35:2; Num. 15:32-36); witchcraft and divination (Exo. 22:17; Lev. 20:27).
- Wilhelm Bacher and Lewis N. Dembitz, Capital Punishment, Jewish Encyclopedia (1901), at http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=128&letter=C.
