Topic(s): Bible Infallibility, Old Testament

Todd Clippard

The texts in question (Leviticus 20:10-17 and Numbers 5:11-31) are not contradictory. The punishment for adultery was indeed death.

The passage in Numbers must be read to the end of the chapter, and verse 31 in particular. Numbers 5:31 says the woman who is an adulteress "shall bear her iniquity."

This phrase is synonymous with receiving the death penalty (cf Leviticus 19:8; 20:17; 20:19).