Leviticus 24

1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “Command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.

3 Outside of the veil of the Testimony, in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD continually. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

4 He shall keep in order the lamps on the pure gold lamp stand before the LORD continually.

5 “You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenths of an ephah shall be in one cake.

6 You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD.

7 You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to the LORD.

8 Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is an everlasting covenant on the behalf of the children of Israel.

9 It shall be for Aaron and his sons. They shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.”

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 the LORD’s will should be declared to them.

13 The LORD 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 the LORD’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 the LORD 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 the LORD commanded Moses.

Around Leviticus 24

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

Leviticus 24 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

The chapter opens with light and bread. The people bring pure olive oil so that a lamp burns continually, and Aaron tends it from evening to morning. Twelve cakes of fine flour are set out in two rows on the gold table every Sabbath, with frankincense, and the bread is eaten by Aaron and his sons in a holy place.

Then the scene changes sharply. In the camp, the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian father fights with an Israelite man, and he curses the Name. They hold him in custody until the LORD's will is made known. The LORD says he is to be taken outside the camp and stoned by all the congregation.

The LORD then states the law for all: a killer is put to death, injury is answered with equal injury, and there is “one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born”.

Background

The LORD speaks to Moses, and the chapter joins ritual care of the tabernacle with a case of blasphemy and a statement of justice. The lamp and bread recall Exodus 25. The words “eye for eye” appear again in Matthew 5, where Jesus speaks to those who heard it. Many scholars read the rule as a limit on revenge, setting a measure for what the court may do. Christians read the story of the blasphemer in different ways.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 24 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes