The Penalty for Blasphemy

10 Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. 11 And the Israelite woman’s son (A)blasphemed the name of the Lord and (B)cursed; and so they (C)brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 Then they (D)put him [a]in custody, (E)that [b]the mind of the Lord might be shown to them.

13 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him (F)lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

15 “Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God (G)shall [c]bear his sin. 16 And whoever (H)blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.

17 (I)‘Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. 18 (J)Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal.

19 ‘If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as (K)he has done, so shall it be done to him— 20 fracture for (L)fracture, (M)eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. 21 And whoever kills an animal shall restore it; but whoever kills a man shall be put to death. 22 You shall have (N)the[d] same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”

23 Then Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they took outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him with stones. So the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 24:12 under guard
  2. Leviticus 24:12 Lit. it might be declared to them from the mouth of the Lord
  3. Leviticus 24:15 be responsible for
  4. Leviticus 24:22 one standard of judgment

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