Leviticus 24

The Lamp And The Bread Of The Sanctuary

1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Command the children of Israel to bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light [of the golden lampstand], to make a lamp burn continually. 3Outside the veil of the Testimony [between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place] in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron shall always keep the lamps burning before the LORD from evening until morning; it shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations. 4He shall keep the lamps burning on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually.

5“Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes (bread of the Presence, showbread) with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake (loaf). 6You shall set the bread of the Presence (showbread) in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. 7You shall put pure frankincense [in two censers, one] beside each row, so that it may be with the bread as a memorial portion, an offering by fire to the LORD. 8Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange the showbread before the LORD continually; it is an everlasting covenant for the Israelites. 9“The bread of the Presence shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a sacred place, for it is for Aaron a most holy portion of the offerings by fire to the LORD, his portion forever.”

10Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the Israelites, and he and a man of Israel quarreled and struggled with each other in the camp. 11The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name [of the LORD] and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12They put him in custody until the will and command of the LORD might be made clear to them.

13Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 14“Bring the one who has cursed [the LORD] outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head [as witnesses to his guilt]; then let all the congregation stone him. 15You shall speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God will bear his sin [through his own death]. 16‘Further, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall most certainly be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him. The stranger as well as the native-born shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name [of the LORD].

“An Eye for an Eye” 17‘If a man takes the life of any human being [unlawfully], he shall most certainly be put to death. 18‘The one who kills an animal shall replace it, animal for animal. 19‘If a man injures his neighbor (fellow citizen), whatever he has done shall be done to him: 20fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so shall the same be done to him. 21‘The one who kills an animal shall replace it; but he who kills a human being [unlawfully] shall be put to death. 22‘You shall have one standard of law for the stranger among you as well as for the native, for I am the LORD your God.’” 23Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they brought the one who had cursed [the LORD] outside the camp and stoned him with stones. Thus the Israelites did just as the LORD had commanded Moses.