# ואיש אשר ישכב את זכר משכבי אשה תועבה (Leviticus 20:13)



## vitorhugoj

Hi. Please regardless of your faith or of your opinion about, I would like to know the right translation of Leviticus 20:13 :  *וְאִ֗ישׁ  אֲשֶׁ֨ר  יִשְׁכַּ֤ב  אֶת־  זָכָר֙  מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י  אִשָּׁ֔ה  תּוֹעֵבָ֥ה* 
Thanks!


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## aavichai

you probably want it literaly
because if not you could check on the 100000000 translation the bible had
ו - and
איש- man
אשר - who
ישכב - sleep (no tense like the spoken Hebrew)
את - with
זכר - male
משכב - it is a noun from the root the mean lie (down)
--------but when it connect to the word "woman" it means sexual intercourse
אשה - woman
תועבה - abomination

and it means
a man who sleeps/lie with a male (man) the "sleeps/lies" with a woman, (such thing is) abomination

i tried to make it: verb+noun like "walk the walk"
but the meaning is a man who sleeps with a male as the way sleeping with a woman (mean in this case to sexual context), such thing is abomination

hope you understand (cuz i didn't)


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## Drink

You cut the quote off mid-sentence:

וְאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִשְׁכַּ֤ב אֶת־זָכָר֙ מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֔ה תּֽוֹעֵבָ֥ה עָשׂ֖וּ שְׁנֵיהֶ֑ם

The two new words are:
עשו = they did/have done
שניהם = the two of them

So this means "And a man that lies with a male [in the manner of] lying with a woman, the two of them have done an abomination."


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## hadronic

I still don't really get the ישכב את זכר משכבי אישה part. Is that really the so-called "internal object", a device used to qualify an action (לישון שינה טובה, היכה מכה חזקה)?  In that case 2 questions :
- why is it in the plural? I don't think הם ישנו שינות טובות is "correct", 
- is משכב the action noun of שכב? Isn't it שכיבה?

Thx


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## aavichai

משכב is a noun in the form of Miqtal
most of the time it will be use to represent places like מטבח מרחב
also מעון and מקום are from the same form as Miqtal
but sometime the Miqtal is also an act like
מנוס that can be also the place to run to or the running it self
in Jeramiah 46:5 ומנוס נסו
and its an internal object
like you wrote שכב משכב 
משכב can be the act as שכיבה and it can be the place for lying on it = a bed
when you have things like this you should know the meaning from the context

משכב = שכיבה
2Samuel 4:5 וְהוּא שֹׁכֵב אֵת מִשְׁכַּב הַצָּהֳרָיִם

משכב = מיטה - מקום ששוכבים עליו = lace to lay on it = bed
2Samuel 13:5 שְׁכַב עַל-מִשְׁכָּבְךָ

check according to the context that one is a noun that represent a verb
and the other is a regular noun

hope I explained myself well


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## aavichai

the first Q you asked
why is this in plural
there's only three time that the word משכב is in plural construct state
twice in ויקרא the same way as your verse משכבי אשה
and once in Genesis 49:4 
כִּי עָלִיתָ מִשְׁכְּבֵי אָבִיךָ אָז חִלַּלְתָּ יְצוּעִי עָלָה
here I have a problem
some may say that משכבי אביך = יצועי and there for means Bed
some will say (so am I) its not Bed but שכיבה
because he means: you put yourself in my place. you did my משכב. you did the lying act*s* of your father. and that's why it's plural - it doesn't mean "Beds" but "lying act*s*"

for that I think that the plural in the משכבי אשה and משכבי אביך is because it is the way of life and not some one time act.
the general meaning of the verse means that you should not live like that.

think if you want to say that a man should not dress as a woman
so it would be: "A man should not wear dresses"
even though when a man do it - he probably wear one dress at a time

maybe its funny equivalent -and I hope I'm not wrong in my assumption
It's a good Q - and I tried to answer without checking everything
If I'm wrong at something - please correct me


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## Orest1

"I still don't really get the ישכב את זכר משכבי אישה part. Is that really the so-called "internal object", a device used to qualify an action"

I would say that this is a homonym of the direct object marker, here the preposition means "with".


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## Drink

Orest1 said:


> "I still don't really get the ישכב את זכר משכבי אישה part. Is that really the so-called "internal object", a device used to qualify an action"
> 
> I would say that this is a homonym of the direct object marker, here the preposition means "with".



I think the question was about "משכבי אשה", not about "את זכר".


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## Orest1

2Drink.
I see. Yes, then my reply is irrelevant. This question has been answered.


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