Leviticus 24:10-23
God’s name is holy, and His justice is to be upheld without partiality.
10 The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and the son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp.
11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.
12 They put him in custody until Yahweh’s will should be declared to them.
13 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
14 “Bring him who cursed out of the camp; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
15 You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.
16 He who blasphemes Yahweh’s name, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native-born shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name.
17 “ ‘He who strikes any man mortally shall surely be put to death.
18 He who strikes an animal mortally shall make it good, life for life.
19 If anyone injures his neighbor, it shall be done to him as he has done:
20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. It shall be done to him as he has injured someone.
21 He who kills an animal shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death.
22 You shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born; for I am Yahweh your God.’ ”
23 Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they brought him who had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. The children of Israel did as Yahweh commanded Moses.
God’s name is holy, and His justice is to be upheld without partiality.
This passage records an incident of blasphemy and establishes judicial principles concerning the sanctity of God’s name and equitable justice within the covenant community.
Leviticus rarely uses narrative. The book is dominated by legislative and cultic lists. This sudden, violent story in chapter 24 shatters the liturgical rhythm, much like the death of Nadab and Abihu in chapter 10. It serves as a real-time case law application of the Third Commandment. It proves that the holiness detailed in the sanctuary (lampstand and bread) must be maintained in the camp's social reality.
The wilderness camp at Sinai, containing a 'mixed multitude' that came out of Egypt with the Israelites (Exodus 12:38).
Light, Bread, the Holy Name, and Equal Justice Before the LORD
The holy LORD must be honored continually in His sanctuary and reverently in His camp, because His presence, provision, name, and justice govern Israel's worship and communal life.