The Holy Oil
24 The Lord spoke to Moses:
2 Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil from beaten[a] olives for the Light so the lamps will be kept burning continually.[b] 3 Aaron shall set the Light before the Lord in the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil which is in front of the Testimony, every night from the evening to the morning. It is a permanent regulation throughout your generations. 4 He shall set the lamps regularly on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord.
The Holy Bread
5 You shall take fine flour and bake twelve round loaves from it. Each loaf shall be made with four quarts of flour. 6 You shall put them in two stacks, six to each stack, on the pure gold table before the Lord. 7 Upon the stacks you shall place clear frankincense as a memorial portion for the bread. It is a gift of food[c] to the Lord. 8 On every Sabbath day he shall arrange it before the Lord regularly. It is a permanent covenant on behalf of the Israelites. 9 The bread shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who shall eat it in a holy place, for it belongs to him as a most holy thing from the gifts of food to the Lord, a perpetual allotment.
Blasphemy Against the Holy Name
10 A man who was the son of an Israelite woman and of an Egyptian man came along with the Israelites. This son of the Israelite woman fought with another Israelite in the camp. 11 The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name[d] and cursed, so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, belonging to the tribe of Dan.) 12 They put him in custody to wait for a decision from the mouth of the Lord.
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 14 “Take the man who cursed outside the camp, and all those who heard it shall lay their hands on his head, and the whole community shall stone him. 15 Then speak to the Israelites: If anyone curses his God, he shall bear his sin, 16 but if anyone blasphemes the name of the Lord, he must certainly be put to death; the whole community must stone him. Whether he is an alien or a citizen, when he has blasphemed the Name, he must be put to death.”
17 “If anyone hits someone and kills him, he must certainly be put to death. 18 But one who strikes and kills an animal must make restitution for it, a life for a life. 19 If anyone injures his fellow citizen, he shall have the same thing done to him as he has done: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he injured that other person, the same is to be done to him. 21 One who strikes an animal so that it dies shall make restitution for it, but one who strikes a human being and kills him shall be put to death. 22 You shall have the same standard of justice for the alien who lives with you and for the citizen, for I am the Lord your God.”
23 After Moses had spoken this to the Israelites, the man who had cursed was taken outside the camp and stoned to death. The Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 24:2 The basic meaning of the Hebrew verb ktt is “beat.” The translation assumes that oil from beaten olives is the highest grade “extra virgin” olive oil from the first crushing or pressing of the olive, done by hand.
- Leviticus 24:2 Continually here seems to mean all through the night, every night, as the next verse says, or it may mean that one lamp was always kept burning night and day.
- Leviticus 24:7 Elsewhere this word is translated an offering made by fire, a meaning that does not seem to fit the context here.
- Leviticus 24:11 The Name refers to the Tetragrammaton, Yahweh, which was usually written and pronounced as Lord (Adonai). Even today Jews often substitute the Name for Lord when they are speaking about God.