Leviticus 24
24
The Sanctuary Light.#On the lamp, see Ex 25:31–40; 26:35; 27:20–21; 37:17–24; 40:24–25; Nm 8:1–4. It occupies the south side of the anterior room of the sanctuary tent and provides light for that room. 1The Lord said to Moses: 2Order the Israelites to bring you clear oil of crushed olives for the light, so that you may keep the lamp burning regularly.#Ex 25:31–40; 27:20–21. 3In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that hangs in front of the covenant, Aaron shall set up the lamp to burn before the Lord regularly, from evening till morning, by a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 4He shall set up the lamps on the pure gold menorah to burn regularly before the Lord.
The Showbread.#On the bread table, see Ex 25:23–29; 26:35; 37:10–16; 40:22–23. It occupies the north side of the anterior room of the sanctuary tent. The bread is a type of grain offering (see note on 2:1). 5You shall take bran flour and bake it into twelve cakes,#Ex 25:23–30; 1 Kgs 7:48; 2 Chr 13:11; Heb 9:2. using two tenths of an ephah of flour for each cake. 6These you shall place in two piles, six in each pile, on the pure gold table before the Lord. 7With each pile put some pure frankincense, which shall serve as an oblation to the Lord, a token of the bread offering. 8Regularly on each sabbath day the bread#1 Chr 9:32. shall be set out before the Lord on behalf of the Israelites by an everlasting covenant. 9It shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who must eat it in a sacred place, since it is most sacred,#1 Sm 21:5. his as a perpetual due from the oblations to the Lord.
Punishment of Blasphemy.#This is a narrative where an offense leads to clarifying revelation similar to the cases in Lv 10:1–7 and 16:1–34; Nm 9:6–14 and 15:32–36. 10A man born of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and in the camp a fight broke out between the son of the Israelite woman and an Israelite man. 11The son of the Israelite woman uttered the Lord’s name in a curse and blasphemed. So he was brought to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan— 12and he was kept in custody till a decision from the Lord should settle the case for them.#Nm 15:34. 13The Lord then said to Moses: 14Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and when all who heard him have laid their hands#Laid their hands: see notes on 1:4 and 16:21. It may be that blasphemy generated a type of pollution which the hearers return to the culprit by this gesture. on his head,#Lv 16:21. let the whole community stone him. 15Tell the Israelites: Anyone who blasphemes God shall bear the penalty; 16whoever utters the name of the Lord in a curse shall be put to death.#Ex 22:27; 1 Kgs 21:10, 13; Mt 26:65–66; Jn 10:33. The whole community shall stone that person; alien and native-born alike must be put to death for uttering the Lord’s name in a curse.
17#A digression dealing with bodily injury follows the blasphemy rules. It may have been appended since the first case is another example of the death penalty. But the section develops according to its own logic. All legal traditions require death for homicide: Gn 9:5–6; Ex 21:12–14; Nm 35:9–34; Dt 19:1–13; cf. Ex 20:13 and Dt 5:17. Whoever takes the life of any human being shall be put to death;#Gn 9:5–6; Ex 21:12–14; Nm 35:9–34; Dt 19:11–13. 18whoever takes the life of an animal shall make restitution of another animal, life for a life.#Ex 21:33–34; cf. Lv 17:4. 19#The phrase “life for a life” in v. 18 leads to introducing the law of talion in vv. 19–20. Some have interpreted the law here and the similar expressions in Ex 21:23–25 and Dt 19:21 to mean that monetary compensation equal to the injury is to be paid, though the wording of the law here and the context of Dt 19:21 indicate an injury is to be inflicted upon the injurer. Anyone who inflicts a permanent injury on his or her neighbor shall receive the same in return: 20fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The same injury that one gives another shall be inflicted in return.#Ex 21:23–25; Dt 19:21; Mt 5:38. 21Whoever takes the life of an animal shall make restitution, but whoever takes a human life shall be put to death. 22You shall have but one rule, for alien and native-born alike.#Lv 19:34; Ex 12:49; Nm 15:16. I, the Lord, am your God.
23When Moses told this to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him;#Acts 7:57–58. they did just as the Lord commanded Moses.
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Leviticus 24: NABRE
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Leviticus 24
24
Caring for the Lamps
(Exodus 27.20,21)
1The Lord told Moses 2to say to the community of Israel:
You must supply the purest olive oil for the lamps in the sacred tent, so they will keep burning. 3-4Aaron will set up the gold lampstand in the holy place of the sacred tent. Then he will light the seven lamps that must be kept burning there in my presence, every night from now on. This law will never change.
The Sacred Bread
The Lord said:
5 #
Ex 25.30. Use your finest flour to bake twelve loaves of bread about two kilograms each, 6then take them into the sacred tent and lay them on the gold table in two rows of six loaves. 7Alongside each row put some pure incense that will be sent up by fire in place of the bread as an offering to me. 8Aaron must lay fresh loaves on the table each Sabbath, and priests in all generations must continue this practice as part of Israel's agreement with me. 9#Mt 12.4; Mk 2.26; Lk 6.4. This bread will always belong to Aaron and his family; it is very holy because it was offered to me, and it must be eaten in a holy place.#24.9 holy place: The courtyard of the sacred tent (see 6.16,17).
Punishment for Cursing the Lord
10-11Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan, had married an Egyptian, and they had a son. One day their son got into a fight with an Israelite man in camp and cursed the name of the Lord. So the young man was dragged off to Moses, 12who had him guarded while everyone waited for the Lord to tell them what to do.
13Finally, the Lord said to Moses:
14This man has cursed me! Take him outside the camp and tell the witnesses to lay their hands on his head. Then command the whole community of Israel to stone him to death. 15-16And warn the others that everyone else who curses me will die in the same way, whether they are Israelites by birth or foreigners living among you.
17 #
Ex 21.12. Death is also the penalty for murder, 18but the killing of an animal that belongs to someone else requires only that the animal be replaced. 19Personal injuries to others must be dealt with in keeping with the crime— 20#Ex 21.23-25; Dt 19.19-21; Mt 5.38. a broken bone for a broken bone, an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth. 21It's possible to pay the owner for an animal that has been killed, but death is the penalty for murder. 22#Nu 15.15,16. I am the Lord your God, and I demand equal justice both for you Israelites and for those foreigners who live among you.
23When Moses finished speaking, the people did what the Lord had told Moses, and they stoned to death the man who had cursed the Lord.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
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