bring a coffin and a shroud for him, there is no
transgression. But they did not bury him (the condemned) in the sepulchres
of his fathers. And there were two burial grounds prepared for the
Judgment Hall--one for the stoned and the burned, and one for those
beheaded and strangled.

6. When the flesh of the condemned was consumed, they gathered his bones
and buried them in their proper place; and his relatives came and asked
after the peace of the judges, and the peace of the witnesses, as much as
to say, "know there is nothing in our hearts against you, as your judgment
was true." And they did not mourn, but were gloomy, since gloominess is
only in the heart.

Chapter VII

1. Four punishments were permitted to the supreme court--stoning, burning,
beheading, and strangling. R. Simon said, "burning, stoning, strangling,
and beheading." The preceding chapter is the order of stoning.

2. The order for those burned was to be sunk in dung to their knees. And
men put a hard towel in a soft one, and encircled his neck. One pulled on
one side, and another pulled on the other side, till the condemned opened
his mouth. And one lit a wick, and cast it into his mouth, and it went
down to his bowels, and it consumed his intestines. R. Judah said, "if he
died in their hands, they did not complete in him the order of burning;
only they opened his mouth with tongs against his will, and lit the wick,
and cast it into his mouth, and it went down to his bowels and consumed
his intestines." Said R. Eleazar the son of Zadok, "it happened with the
daughter of a priest, who was immoral, that they surrounded her with dry
branches and burned her." The Sages replied, "because the court at that
time was unskilled."

3. The order of those beheaded was to have their heads struck off with a
sword, as is the custom of governments. R. Judah said, "that was an abuse;
they only rested his head on a block, and hewed it off with an axe." The
Sages replied to him, "no death is a greater abuse than that." The order
for those strangled was, that they were sunk down in dung to their knees,
and they put a hard towel inside a soft one, and encircled his neck. One
pulled on one side, and another pulled on the other side, till his soul
departed.

4. These were stoned; ... a blasphemer, and an idolater, and he who gave
his seed to Molech, and one with a familiar spirit,(401) and a wizard, and
he who profaned the Sabbath, and he who cursed father or mo