[When] he was approximately ten cubits from the stoning place, they say to him, “Confess, as it is the practice of those who are executed to confess, because anyone who confesses has a share in the World to Come.” For so we find concerning Achan, that Joshua said to him: My son, please give honor to the God of Israel and render confession to him, etc. And Achan answered Joshua and said: I have sinned ... thus [have I done], etc. From where do we know that his confession brought him atonement? Because it says: And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? Hashem shall trouble you on this day” —- on this day you are troubled, but you will not be troubled in the World to Come. If he does not know how to confess, they said to him, “Say: Let my death by an atonement for all my sins.” R’ Yehudah says: If he knows that he is the victim of a plot, he should say, “Let my death be an atonement for all my sins except for this one.” They said to him: If so, everyone will say so in order to clear himself.

When he was four cubits from the stoning place, they removed his clothing. They cover a man in front, and a woman [both] in front and back; [these are] the words of R’ Yehudah. But the Sages say: A man is stoned unclothed but a woman is not stoned unclothed.

The stoning place was elevated twice the height [of a man]. One of the witnesses shoves him by his hips; [if] he falls onto his chest, he is turned onto his hips. If he dies from this, it is sufficient; if not, the second [witness] takes the stone and throws it upon his chest. If he dies from this, it is sufficient; if not, his stoning is by all of Israel, as it is stated: The hand of the witness-es shall be upon him first to put him to death, and the hand of the entire nation afterward.  All those who are stoned are hanged; [these are] the words of R’ Eliezer. The Sages say: No one is hanged except for the blasphemer and the idolater. A man is hanged facing the people, and a woman facing the gibbet; [these are] the words of R’ Eliezer. But the Sages say: A man is hanged but a woman is not hanged. Said R’ Eliezer to them: Did not Shimon ben Shatach hang women in Ashkelon? They said to him: He hanged eighty women, and one may not try [even] two in one day.  How do they hang him? They sink a post into the ground, with a beam protruding from it. He places his two hands one upon the other, and hangs him. R’ Yose says: The post is leaned against the wall, and he hangs him in the way that butchers do it.   They release him im-mediately. If he is left overnight, this constitutes a transgression of a negative commandment, as it is stated: And you shall not leave his body hanging overnight for you shall bury him on that day, for one who is hanged is [like] a curse to Hashem, etc.; that is to say, why was this person hanged? Because he blasphemed Hashem; thus the name of Hashem is profaned.

Said R’ Meir: At a time when a person suffers, what expression does the Shechinah use? So to speak, “I am burdened by my head; I am burdened by my arm.” If the Omnipresent is pained so for the blood of the wicked which is spilled, how much more so for the blood of the righteous.  Not only this, but anyone who leaves his deceased [relative] overnight trans-gresses a negative commandment. If he left him overnight for the sake of his honor, in order to bring him a casket or shrouds, he does not transgress. They do not bury him in his ancestral plot. Rather, there were two cemeteries set aside for the court; one for those who were beheaded or strangled, and one for those who were stoned or burned.