Leviticus 24:5-15

5 "Take fine flour and bake it into 12 loaves; each loaf is to be made with four quarts.[a]
6 Arrange them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure [gold] table before the Lord.[b]
7 Place pure frankincense near each row, so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread and a fire offering to the Lord.
8 The bread is to be set out before the Lord every Sabbath day as a perpetual covenant obligation on the part of the Israelites.
9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, for it is the holiest portion for him from the fire offerings to the Lord; this is a permanent rule."

A Case of Blasphemy

10 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father was[c] among the Israelites. A fight broke out in the camp between the Israelite woman's son and an Israelite man.
11 Her son cursed and blasphemed the Name,[d] and they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, a daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan.)
12 They put him in custody until the Lord's decision could be made clear to them.[e]
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses:
14 "Bring the one who has cursed to the outside of the camp and have all who heard [him] lay their hands on his head; then have the whole community stone him.[f]
15 And tell the Israelites: If anyone curses his God, he will bear the consequences of his sin.

Leviticus 24:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 24

This chapter treats of the oil for the lamps, and the ordering of them, Le 24:1-4; of the making of the shewbread cakes, and the setting of them on the table, Le 24:5-9; and an Israelite having blasphemed the name of the Lord, and inquiry being made what should be done to him, he, and so any other person guilty of the same, is ordered to be stoned to death, Le 24:10-16; on occasion of which several laws are repeated concerning killing a man or a beast, or doing injury to any man, Le 24:17-23.

Footnotes 6

  • [a]. Lit two-tenths [of an ephah]
  • [b]. Ex 25:23-30; 40:23; 1 Sm 21:6; 1 Ch 23:29; 2 Ch 13:11; Mt 12:1-8
  • [c]. Lit went out
  • [d]. Lv 24:16; Nm 15:30; 1 Sm 3:13; Neh 9:18
  • [e]. Nm 15:32-35
  • [f]. Lv 24:23
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.