Leviticus 24

The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2"Tell the people of Israel to bring you pure oil made from crushed olives, for the light, so the lamps can be kept burning all the time.

2Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.

Note"Beaten" or crushed olive oil is the first oil taken from olives pounded by hand rather than squeezed under a heavy press. It is the clearest grade and burns with the least smoke and sediment, which is why it is specified for the sanctuary lamps.

3Outside the curtain that hangs in front of the ark of the covenant law, inside the tent of meeting, Aaron is to keep the lamps in order before the LORD, from evening until morning, all the time. This is a lasting rule for all your generations.

3Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations.

NoteThe tent of meeting was the portable sanctuary the Israelites carried with them through the wilderness. Inside it a heavy curtain screened off the innermost room, which held the chest called the ark. "The testimony" (King James "the vail of the testimony") is the pair of inscribed stone tablets kept in that chest. Aaron was Moses' brother and the chief priest; the instruction covers the priests who came after him as well.

4He is to keep the lamps in order on the lampstand of pure gold before the LORD, all the time.

4He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually.

NoteThe King James "candlestick" held oil lamps, not candles: it is the seven-branched lampstand described in Exodus 25. "Pure" describes the gold it was hammered from.

5You are to take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it. Use two-tenths of an ephah of flour for each loaf.

5And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake.

NoteAn ephah was a dry measure of roughly twenty to twenty-two liters, about half a bushel. Two-tenths of an ephah is therefore something over four liters of flour, three or four pounds, a very large loaf.

6Set the loaves in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold before the LORD.

6And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD.

NoteThis bread, laid out on the gold table inside the sanctuary, is what the King James elsewhere calls "shewbread" and other translations call "the bread of the Presence." The twelve loaves match the twelve tribes of Israel.

7Put pure frankincense on each row, so that it goes with the bread as a reminder portion, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

7And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

NoteFrankincense is a fragrant resin bled from trees grown in southern Arabia and east Africa, imported at considerable cost and burned for its scent. A "memorial" or reminder portion is the part of an offering burned on the altar to stand in for the whole of it; here the incense is what burns, while the bread itself is eaten by the priests.

8Every Sabbath day the priest is to set the bread in order before the LORD, all the time. It is taken from the people of Israel as a lasting covenant.

8Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.

NoteA covenant is a binding agreement with fixed obligations on each side, closer to a treaty or a contract than to a promise.

9The bread belongs to Aaron and his sons, and they are to eat it in a holy place. It is a most holy part of the offerings made to the LORD by fire, and it is his share by a lasting rule."

9And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.

Note"Most holy" is a technical grade in these laws, not just emphasis. Offerings in that class could be eaten only by priests, and only within the sanctuary area; they could not be taken home or shared with a priest's household.

10Now a man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian went out among the people of Israel. This son of the Israelite woman and an Israelite man fought each other in the camp.

10And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;

NoteTribe, descent and inheritance in Israel were normally reckoned through the father, so a man with an Egyptian father belonged to no tribe of his own; that is why his mother's father and tribe are recorded instead. A mixed group had left Egypt with the Israelites (Exodus 12:38). What the two men were fighting about is not stated.

11The Israelite woman's son spoke against the name of the LORD, and he cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)

11And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)

NoteThe Hebrew says only that he "pierced" (or "pronounced") the Name and cursed. It is left unclear whether the offense was cursing God or uttering the divine name itself. Jews later avoided speaking that name aloud, saying "the Name" or "the Lord" instead, the practice the King James follows by printing LORD in capitals wherever the name stands in the Hebrew.

12They put him under guard until the LORD's decision about him could be made clear to them.

12And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them.

NoteIsrael had no prisons as a form of punishment; being put "in ward" meant only being held under guard until a case was decided. No existing rule covered this offense, so the question was referred for a ruling rather than judged on the spot.

13Then the LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

13And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

14"Bring the man who cursed outside the camp. Have everyone who heard him lay their hands on his head, and have the whole assembly stone him.

14Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

NoteExecutions, like anything counted unclean, were carried out beyond the boundary of the camp. The witnesses laying their hands on the man's head is a formal gesture identifying him as the one whose words they heard, and placing responsibility for the death on him rather than on themselves. Stoning by the whole assembly meant that no single person struck the fatal blow.

15And say to the people of Israel: 'Anyone who curses his God will carry the guilt of his sin.

15And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.

Note"Bear his sin" is a legal idiom: he himself, and no one else, answers for what he did and takes the consequence of it.

16Whoever speaks against the name of the LORD must be put to death. The whole assembly must certainly stone him. Whether he is a foreigner living among you or born in the land, if he speaks against the Name, he must be put to death.

16And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.

NoteThe word translated "stranger" or "foreigner" means a non-Israelite settled permanently among the people, a resident outsider living under Israel's law without land or tribe of his own, not a passing traveler.

17Whoever takes the life of another person must be put to death.

17And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.

18Whoever kills an animal must pay for it: animal for animal.

18And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast.

NoteThe Hebrew reads "life for life," the same phrase used of human beings, but applied to an animal it means replacement: whoever kills another man's beast owes a beast of like value.

19If a man injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him:

19And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him;

20break for break, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Whatever injury he caused another person, the same is to be done to him.

20Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.

Note"Breach for breach" means fracture for fracture. Formulas of this kind appear in other law codes of the ancient Near East; their legal function is to set a ceiling, the penalty must match the injury and may go no further, rather than escalating into feud. Later Jewish legal tradition read the rule as a scale of monetary compensation for the injury.

21Whoever kills an animal must replace it, and whoever kills a person must be put to death.

21And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.

22You are to have one law that covers the foreigner living among you and the person born in your own land, for I am the LORD your God.'"

22Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.

23Then Moses spoke to the people of Israel, telling them to bring the man who had cursed outside the camp and stone him with stones. And the people of Israel did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

23And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.