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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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Leviticus 24
24
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Instruct the sons of Israel, so that they may bring to you clear oil from the purest olives, in order to supply the lamps continuously
3 outside the veil of the testimony in the tabernacle of the covenant. And Aaron shall place these, from evening until morning, before the Lord, as a perpetual worship and ritual in your generations.
4 They shall be placed upon the most pure candlestick in the sight of the Lord always.
5 You shall also receive fine wheat flour, and you shall bake twelve loaves from it, each loaf of which shall have two-tenths.
6 And you shall arrange them, six on each side, upon the most pure table before the Lord.
7 And you shall place upon them the clearest frankincense, so that the bread may be a memorial of oblation for the Lord.
8 On each Sabbath, they shall be changed before the Lord, having been received from the sons of Israel as an everlasting covenant.
9 And they shall be for Aaron and his sons, so that they may eat these in the holy place; for it is the Holy of holies from the sacrifices of the Lord, as a perpetual right.
10 Then, behold, the son of an Israelite woman, whom she had born of an Egyptian man among the sons of Israel, going out, was quarreling in the camp with a man of Israel.
11 And when he had blasphemed the name, and had cursed it, he was led to Moses. (Now his mother was called Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan.)
12 And they sent him to prison, until they might know what the Lord would command,
13 who spoke to Moses,
14 saying: Lead away the blasphemer beyond the camp, and let all who heard him place their hands upon his head, and let the entire people stone him.
15 And you shall say to the sons of Israel: The man who curses his God shall bear his sin,
16 and whoever will have blasphemed the name of the Lord shall be put to death. The entire multitude shall overwhelm him with stones, whether he be a citizen or a sojourner. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death.
17 Whoever will have struck and killed a man shall be put to death.
18 Whoever will have struck down an animal shall repay its equivalent, that is, a life for a life.
19 Whoever will have inflicted a blemish on any of his citizens, just as he has done, so shall it be done to him:
20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, shall he repay. Whatever degree of blemish he has inflicted, so shall he be compelled to suffer.
21 Whoever strikes down a beast, shall repay another. Whoever strikes a man shall be punished.
22 Let there be equal judgment among you, whether it is a sojourner or a citizen who will have sinned. For I am the Lord your God.
23 And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel. And they led away him who had blasphemed, beyond the camp, and they overwhelmed him with stones. And the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had instructed Moses.
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