Leviticus 24: The lamp, the holy bread, and the man who blasphemed the Name

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed (literally: beaten) olives for the light, so that a lamp burns continually.

Good to know: Exodus 27:20 and 21 give this command in almost the same words. The lampstand is described in Exodus 25:31.

In plain English: Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh, continually. This is a rule forever, for all your generations.

In plain English: He is to keep the lamps in order on the lampstand of pure gold before Yahweh continually.

In plain English: "Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves (or: round cakes) from it, with two tenths of an ephah in each loaf.

Good to know: This is the bread that Exodus 25:30 calls "bread of the presence", set on the table before Yahweh always. Older Bibles call it "showbread". The text does not say why there are twelve loaves.

In plain English: Set them in two rows, six in each row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh.

In plain English: Put pure frankincense on each row, as a memorial (or: a reminder) for the bread, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

The Hebrew word: "Memorial" is azkarah. The dictionary gives it as "a reminder; specifically remembrance-offering".

How it is translated: This Bible says "memorial" in all 7 verses that use the word. In Leviticus 2:2 it is the part of the grain offering that the priest burns.

What changes: Read as "a reminder", the frankincense brings the bread to God's remembrance, rather than being only the part that is burned.

In plain English: Every Sabbath day he is to set it in order before Yahweh continually. It is a covenant forever on behalf of (or: from) the Israelites.

In plain English: It belongs to Aaron and his sons, and they are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of Yahweh's offerings made by fire for him, his share by a rule forever."

Good to know: In 1 Samuel 21:6 the priest gives this holy bread to David. In Matthew 12:4 Jesus speaks of that story and says the bread was for the priests only.

In plain English: The son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and this son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel fought in the camp.

Good to know: The text does not give the son's name, and it does not say what the fight was about. It names only his mother (verse 11).

In plain English: The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed (or: pronounced) the Name and cursed, and they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.

The Hebrew words: "Blasphemed" is naqab. The dictionary gives it as "to puncture... or figuratively to specify, designate, libel". In Numbers 1:17 it means "mentioned by name". "Cursed" is qalal, which the dictionary gives as "to be (causatively, make) light", and figuratively "trifling, vile". "The Name" is just "the name": the verse does not add "of Yahweh", but verse 16 does.

How it is translated: This Bible says "blaspheme" for naqab in only 2 verses: this one and verse 16. In Leviticus it says "curse" for qalal in all 6 verses that use it.

What changes: Read as "pronounced", the man spoke the Name aloud while cursing, rather than spoke against it.

Church tradition: Jewish tradition came not to say the name Yahweh aloud, and to read "the Lord" in its place, and this verse and verse 16 are among the verses linked with that custom. Most English Bibles follow it and print "the LORD". Leviticus 24 itself does not forbid saying the name.

In plain English: They kept him under guard until the will of Yahweh (literally: the mouth of Yahweh) was made clear to them.

Good to know: Numbers 15:34 tells of another man kept under guard until it was made clear what should be done to him.

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "Bring the man who cursed outside the camp. Let everyone who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let the whole community stone him.

Good to know: The text does not say why those who heard him lay their hands on his head.

In plain English: Tell the Israelites, 'Anyone who curses his God will bear his sin.

In plain English: Whoever blasphemes (or: pronounces) Yahweh's name is to be put to death. The whole community is to stone him. Foreigner or native-born, whoever blasphemes the Name is to be put to death.

In plain English: "'Whoever strikes and kills any person (literally: any life of a human) is to be put to death.

In plain English: Whoever strikes and kills an animal is to pay for it, life for life.

In plain English: If someone injures his neighbor, the same is to be done to him as he has done:

In plain English: fracture for fracture (a broken bone for a broken bone), eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The same injury he has given someone is to be given to him.

The Hebrew word: "For" in "eye for eye" is tachat. The dictionary gives it as "below... in lieu of", that is, in place of.

Good to know: The same rule is in Exodus 21:23 to 25 and Deuteronomy 19:21. The word for "injures" in verse 19 is mum, the word for a priest's "defect" in 21:17.

Church tradition: Readers take this rule in different ways. Some read it as the same injury done back. Jewish tradition reads it as payment of money matching the loss. Many read it as a limit: no more than the harm that was done. In Matthew 5:38 and 39 Jesus quotes "an eye for an eye" and tells his hearers not to resist one who is evil, and churches read his words in different ways too.

In plain English: Whoever kills an animal is to pay for it, and whoever kills a person is to be put to death.

In plain English: You are to have one law for the foreigner and for the native-born, for I am Yahweh your God.'"

In plain English: Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they brought the man who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. The Israelites did as Yahweh had commanded Moses.