The Penalty and Warning for One Who Lies with a Beast

"Whoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 22:18). Our Rabbis taught: "a man" excludes a minor. "Who gives his lying with a beast" - whether large or small. "He shall surely be put to death" - by stoning. Or perhaps it is by one of all the deaths stated in the Torah? It is stated here "you shall kill," and it is stated elsewhere "you shall surely kill him"; just as there it is by stoning, so here it is by stoning. We have learned the penalty for the active party; from where do we learn the penalty for the passive party? Scripture states, "whoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death" - if it does not apply to the active party, apply it to the passive party. And we have learned the penalty both for the active and the passive party; from where the warning? Scripture states, "and you shall not give your lying to any beast" (Leviticus 18:23). We have learned the warning for the active party; from where the warning for the passive party? Scripture states, "there shall be no cult prostitute" (Deuteronomy 23:18), and it says, "and there was also a cult prostitute in the land" and so on (I Kings 14:24); the words of Rabbi Yishmael. Rabbi Akiva says: this is unnecessary, for it says, "you shall not give your lying [shekhavtekha]," read it as "you shall not give your being lain with [shekhivatekha]." And how does Rabbi Yishmael derive the warning for the one lain with by a beast? He derives it from "whoever lies with a beast": if it does not apply to the active party, apply it to the passive party; and the Merciful One expressed the passive party in the language of the active party, so that just as the active party was penalized and warned, so too the passive party was penalized and warned. Capital cases are tried before twenty-three judges. The one who has relations with a beast and the one with whom a beast has relations are tried before twenty-three, as it is stated, "and you shall kill the woman and the beast" (Leviticus 20:16), and it says, "and the beast you shall kill" (Leviticus 20:15). It is taught without distinction, whether the offender is male or female. Granted the female, as it is written, "and you shall kill the woman and the beast." But the male - from where do we learn it? As it is written, "whoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death": if it does not apply to the active party, apply it to the passive party, and the Merciful One expressed it in the language of the active party; just as the active party and his beast are tried before twenty-three, so the passive party and his beast are tried before twenty-three.