⁶⁶ What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they shouted. “He deserves to die!”

⁷ The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.”

⁵² Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered.

⁶ You have condemned and killed innocent people,^[a] who do not resist you.^[b]

²⁷ The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸ They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.

¹¹ During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the Name of the Lord^[a] with a curse. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. ¹² They kept the man in custody until the Lord’s will in the matter should become clear to them.

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁴ “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard the curse to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. ¹⁵ Say to the people of Israel: Those who curse their God will be punished for their sin. ¹⁶ Anyone who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be put to death.