Leviticus 20:9
He that curseth his father, or mother, dying let him die: he hath cursed his father, and mother, let his blood be upon him.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Qui maledixerit patri suo, aut matri, morte moriatur : patri matrique maledixit : sanguis ejus sit super eum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωπος ὃς ἂν κακῶς εἴπῃ τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ἢ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ θανάτῳ θανατούσθω· πατέρα αὐτοῦ ἢ μητέρα αὐτοῦ κακῶς εἶπεν, ἔνοχος ἔσται.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- כִּֽי אִ֣ישׁ אִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְקַלֵּ֧ל אֶת אָבִ֛יו וְאֶת אִמּ֖וֹ מ֣וֹת יוּמָ֑ת אָבִ֧יו וְאִמּ֛וֹ קִלֵּ֖ל דָּמָ֥יו בּֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Die. The Rabbins say, by being strangled, when nothing farther is added: but if the following addition be made, stoning is understood. But their authority is not of much weight, and is contradicted, ver. 2. Stoning was the most usual method of putting to death in the days of Moses, and is commonly meant; or perhaps the judges might determine the mode of execution.
Upon him. He deserves to die. He can blame no other. See Matthew xxvii. 25. (Calmet)
For greater infamy, the person to be stoned or hung, was stripped of his clothes. (Tirinus)
The punishment of lapidation (ver. 2,) seems to be designed for the following crimes, as it was for adultery, Deuteronomy xxii. 24. (Menochius) (John viii. 5.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Origen Origen's Commentary on Matthew, Chapter IX
Jesus, however, does not accuse them with reference to a tradition of the Jewish elders, but with regard to two most imperative commandments of God, the one of which was the fifth in the decalogue, being as follows: “Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thy days may be long on the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee;” and the other was written thus in Leviticus, “If a man speak evil of his father or his mother, let him die the death; he has spoken evil of his father or mother, he shall be guilty.” But when we wish to examine the very letter of the words as given by Matthew, “He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death,” consider whether it was taken from the place where it was written, “Whoso striketh his father or mother, let him die the death; and he that speaketh evil of father or mother let him die the death.” For such are …
St Cyril of Jerusalem The Father
15. But while honouring our heavenly Father let us honour also the fathers of our flesh : since the Lord Himself hath evidently so appointed in the Law and the Prophets, saying, Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and thy days shall be long in the land . And let this commandment be especially observed by those here present who have fathers and mothers. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing to the Lord . For the Lord said not, He that loveth father or mother is not worthy of Me , lest thou from ignorance shouldest perversely mistake what was rightly written, but He added, more than Me . For when our fathers on earth are of a contrary mind to our Father in heaven, then we must obey Christ’s word. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).