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.

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.