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Leviticus 24
The Voice
Leviticus 24
The Voice
24 The Eternal One spoke to Moses.
Eternal One: 2-3 Direct the Israelites to bring you clear oil from pressed olives in order to keep the lamps in the sanctuary outside the veil covering the covenant chest continually burning. Aaron is to make sure the lamps continue to burn in My presence from dusk till dawn. This directive stands for all time throughout your generations. 4 On a regular basis, Aaron and the priests are to tend to the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before Me.
5 I want you to take the finest flour and bake 12 loaves of bread. Each loaf is to be made of four quarts of flour. 6 Then arrange the 12 loaves into two rows on the pure gold table in My presence. Put six loaves in each row. 7 Place pure frankincense along each row to serve as a memorial portion for the bread, as a fire-offering to Me. 8 Every Sabbath Aaron is to make sure these rows of bread are in order before Me. These loaves, baked and presented by the people of Israel, symbolize the perpetual covenant. 9 They are reserved for Aaron and his sons, but they must be eaten only in a sacred space. These loaves are most holy gifts to Aaron out of all the fire-offerings presented to Me; they are his due for all time.
10 One day there was a man who had an Israelite mother and Egyptian father who got into a fight with an Israelite inside the camp. 11 The first man uttered a curse and disparaged the name of the Eternal One. The people brought him to Moses to decide what must be done. (His mother was Shelomith, Dibri’s daughter. Dibri was from the Dan tribe.) 12 They kept him in custody until the Eternal One’s decision became clear to them.
13 The Eternal One told Moses what to do.
Eternal One: 14 Take the man who cursed and disparaged Me outside the camp and have everyone who was a witness to what he said place their hands on his head. Then have the entire community stone him. 15 Tell the Israelites, “Anyone who curses His God or disparages His name must bear his sin and suffer the punishment. 16 Any person who blasphemes My name must be put to death. Then you must have the entire community join in stoning him. Any person—whether native-born or an outsider—who disparages My name must be put to death.”
17 Anyone who kills another person must be put to death. 18 Anyone who kills an animal is to compensate his owner for it, life for life. 19 Anyone who injures his neighbor must have done to him what he did to the other. 20 If he breaks a man’s bone, his own bone must be broken. If he puts out a man’s eye, his own eye must be put out. If he knocks out a man’s tooth, his own tooth must be knocked out.[a] Whatever a person does to harm another must be done to him in return. 21 Any person who takes the life of an animal is to compensate his owner for it, but any person who takes the life of another human being must be put to death. 22 This law applies to everyone equally, both native-born Israelites and outsiders. I am the Eternal One, your God.
The “law of retaliation,” as it is called, is designed to curb cruelty. It limits the kind and extent of retaliation a person can suffer when he deliberately injures another.
23 Moses told the Israelites what God had decided, so they took the man who had uttered the curse outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did exactly as the Eternal One had instructed Moses.
Footnotes
Leviticus 24
New International Version
Leviticus 24
New International Version
Olive Oil and Bread Set Before the Lord(A)
24 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. 3 Outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance(B) for the generations to come. 4 The lamps on the pure gold lampstand(C) before the Lord must be tended continually.
5 “Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread,(D) using two-tenths of an ephah[a](E) for each loaf. 6 Arrange them in two stacks, six in each stack, on the table of pure gold(F) before the Lord. 7 By each stack put some pure incense(G) as a memorial[b] portion(H) to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the Lord. 8 This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly,(I) Sabbath after Sabbath,(J) on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons,(K) who are to eat it in the sanctuary area,(L) because it is a most holy(M) part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the Lord.”
A Blasphemer Put to Death
10 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name(N) with a curse;(O) so they brought him to Moses.(P) (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.)(Q) 12 They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.(R)
13 Then the Lord said to Moses: 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him.(S) 15 Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God(T) will be held responsible;(U) 16 anyone who blasphemes(V) the name of the Lord is to be put to death.(W) The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.
17 “‘Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death.(X) 18 Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution(Y)—life for life. 19 Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.(Z) The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution,(AA) but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death.(AB) 22 You are to have the same law for the foreigner(AC) and the native-born.(AD) I am the Lord your God.’”
23 Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him.(AE) The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 24:5 That is, probably about 7 pounds or about 3.2 kilograms
- Leviticus 24:7 Or representative
The Voice (VOICE)
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.