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^[a] 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.”

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.