Genesis 38:24

38:24 After three months Judah was told, ¹  “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, ²  and as a result she has become pregnant.” ³  Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”

Leviticus 20:10

20:10 If a man ⁴  commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, ⁵  both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

Deuteronomy 22:21-24

22:21 the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing ⁶  in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge ⁷  evil from among you.

22:22 If a man is caught having sexual relations with ⁸  a married woman ⁹  both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge ¹⁰  evil from Israel.

22:23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets ¹¹  her in the city and has sexual relations with ¹²  her, 22:24 you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated ¹³  his neighbor’s fiancée; ¹⁴  in this way you will purge ¹⁵  evil from among you.

John 8:4-5

8:4 and said to Jesus, ¹⁶  “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 8:5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death ¹⁷  such women. ¹⁸  What then do you say?”

¹ tn Heb “it was told to Judah, saying.”

² tn Or “has been sexually promiscuous.” The verb may refer here to loose or promiscuous activity, not necessarily prostitution.

³ tn Heb “and also look, she is with child by prostitution.”

⁴ tn Heb “And a man who.” The syntax here and at the beginning of the following verses elliptically mirrors that of v. 9, which justifies the rendering as a conditional clause.

⁵ tc The reading of the LXX minuscule mss has been followed here (see the BHS footnote a-a). The MT has a dittography, repeating “a man who commits adultery with the wife of” (see the explanation in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328). The duplication found in the MT is reflected in some English versions, e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV.

⁶ tn The Hebrew term נְבָלָה (nÿvalah) means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 20:6, 10; Jer 29:23). See C. Pan, NIDOTTE 3:11-13. Cf. NAB “she committed a crime against Israel.”

⁷ tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.

⁸ tn Heb “lying with” (so KJV, NASB), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.

⁹ tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.

¹¹ tn Heb “finds.”

¹² tn Heb “lies with.”

¹³ tn Heb “humbled.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “wife.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.

¹⁶ tn Grk “to him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ sn An allusion to Lev 20:10 and Deut 22:22-24.

¹⁸ sn The accusers themselves subtly misrepresented the law. The Mosaic law stated that in the case of adultery, both the man and woman must be put to death (Lev 20:10, Deut 22:22), but they mentioned only such women.