You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest all the fruit be defiled, the seed which you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard.
Not to sow grain or vegetables in a vineyard
The cited verse
The Hebrew (Masoretic Text)
לֹא־תִזְרַע כַּרְמְךָ כִּלְאָיִם פֶּן־תִּקְדַּשׁ הַמְלֵאָה הַזֶּרַע אֲשֶׁר תִּזְרָע וּתְבוּאַת הַכָּרֶם
In Maimonides’ words
How Maimonides defines this commandment in his Sefer HaMitzvot — his own words, shown as a primary source.
שהזהירנו מזרוע תבואה בכרם, וכן שאר ירקות, וזה המין מן הכלאים יקרא כלאי הכרם, והוא אמרו יתעלה לא תזרע כרמך כלאים. לשון ספרא לא תזרע כרמך מה אני צריך והלא כבר נאמר שדך לא תזרע וזה יכלול בלי ספק הכרם והזרעים, אמרו מלמד שכל מקיים כלאים בכרם עובר בשני לאוין. ודע שכלאי הכרם אינן אסורים מן התורה אלא בארץ לבד והוא לוקה מלקות דאורייתא בתנאי שיזרע חטה ושעורה וחרצן במפולת יד, אמנם הרכבת אילן לוקה עליו בכל מקום ואזהרה ממנה נכנסת תחת אמרו שדך לא תזרע כלאים. וכבר התבארו משפטי מצוה זו במסכת כלאים. (שם, שם):
He prohibited us from planting grain - as well as other vegetables - in a vineyard. And this type of forbidden mixture is called forbidden mixtures of the vineyard. And that is His, may He be exalted, saying, "Do not plant your vineyard with mingled seed" (Deuteronomy 22:9). And the language of the [Sifrei] (Sifrei Devarim 230:1) is, "'Do not plant your vineyard' - why do I need it? And is it not already stated (Leviticus 19:19), 'you shall not sow your field?'" And this would without a doubt include a vineyard and seeds. [In answer,] they said, "It teaches that one who has a forbidden mixture in a vineyard transgresses two negative commandments." And know that a forbidden mixture of the vineyard is only forbidden by Torah law in the Land [of Israel] - [and] on condition that he sows wheat, barley and grape seeds with a single hand motion. However one is lashed for the [forbidden] grafting of trees everywhere. And its prohibition comes under His saying, "you shall not sow your field with mingled seed." And the regulations of this commandment have already been explained in Tractate Kilayim. (See Parashat Kedoshim; Mishneh Torah, Diverse Species 1.)
Hebrew: Sefer HaMitzvot, Warsaw 1883 (public domain). English: Sefaria Edition, trans. Rabbi Francis Nataf, 2021 (CC0). Via Sefaria; translator’s footnotes omitted.
Literary form: a prohibition
Applicability
How the catalog describes where and when this commandment applies. These are independent descriptions, not a verdict on which laws still count.
- Recorded as practiced today
- Binding in the land of Israel
Classical halakhic consequences
The consequences the classical halakhah attaches to this commandment, grouped by who imposes them. Where a category has none recorded, that absence is itself meaningful.
Imposed by a court
- Lashes (malkot)
At the hands of Heaven
No divinely-imposed consequence is recorded.
Ritual remedy
No ritual remedy is recorded.
How the streams of Judaism treat this commandment
The streams of Judaism read the same commandment differently — an ongoing plurality, not a ranking. Each position below is reported as the catalog records it; none is presented as the correct one.
- Orthodox Binding
- Conservative Binding, with modification
- Reform Not binding
- Reconstructionist Not binding
- Karaite Binding
24 of 613 commandments have been examined in depth so far — this one is queued.
How later traditions received this commandment
How later traditions read or reworked this commandment, each attributed to its own voice. The catalog’s own classification of each reception is shown as it records it, never adopted as GEBible’s.
Philo of Alexandria
- De Specialibus Legibus 4.203-218 rationalized it
Josephus
- Ant. 4.228 affirmed it
Where this commandment meets modern human-rights frameworks
One modern normative lens, attributed to it — not GEBible’s assessment. Each row names the framework it measures against and the catalog’s own classification of the relation.
This framework catalogues tensions; it records agreement in only one of its entries. The near-total tension rate is the shape of the instrument, not a finding.
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general principle
This framework classifies the relation as a direct contradiction.
Mishnah Makkot 3:2 prescribes thirty-nine lashes for sowing grain or vegetables in a vineyard; modern penal proportionality precludes corporal punishment for an agricultural purity infraction that harms no identifiable person.
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Article 7
This framework classifies the relation as a direct contradiction.
ICCPR Article 7 prohibits cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; court-imposed flogging for a vineyard mixture offense is incompatible with the standards established under this article.
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abrogated_in_practice
This framework classifies the relation as abrogated in practice.
The malkot sanction has not been administered since the dissolution of the Sanhedrin; the de jure corporal-punishment norm remains but is not enforced in practice.