Sanhedrin 7:2-3

Sanhedrin 7:2

The procedure for those who are executed by burning is as follows: they would put the condemned in manure up to his knees and they would put a stiff scarf inside a soft scarf, which they would wind around his neck. Two people would pull the ends of this scarf in opposite directions, causing the condemned to open his mouth. They would heat a bar of metal and drop it into his mouth so that it would go down into his bowels and burn his innards. Rabbi Yehuda says that if the condemned died from them pulling on the scarf, they did not fulfill the obligation to execute the convicted by burning (therefore, such a scarf was not used). Rather, they would force his mouth open using pincers and drop the heated bar into his mouth as described above. Rabbi Elazar ben Tzadok said that the daughter of a kohein once committed adultery and they executed her by surrounding her with bundles of branches. The Sages replied that this happened at a time when there was not a court familiar with the proper procedure.

Sanhedrin 7:3

The procedure for execution by beheading was as follows: they simply cut off the condemned’s head with a sword in the same manner as the secular government. Rabbi Yehuda said that the very idea is disgraceful. Rather, they would lay the condemned’s head on a block and cut it off with a hatchet. The Sages replied that Rabbi Yehuda’s suggestion even more disgraceful – in fact, that’s the most disgraceful death imaginable! The procedure for execution by strangulation is as follows: they put the condemned in manure up to his knees, and they put a stiff scarf inside a soft scarf, which they would wind around his neck. Two people would pull the ends of this scarf in opposite directions until the condemned person died.