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Leviticus

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Chapter 24

1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Command the Israelites to bring to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 3 Outside the special curtain of the congregation in the Meeting Tent, Aaron must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually.⁠ This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 4 On the ceremonially pure lampstand he must arrange the lamps before the Lord continually. 5 “You must take choice wheat flour and bake twelve loaves; there must be two-tenths of an ephah of flour in each loaf, 6 and you must set them in two rows, six in a row, on the ceremonially pure table before the Lord. 7 You must put pure frankincense on each row, and it will become a memorial portion for the bread, a gift to the Lord. 8 Each Sabbath day Aaron must arrange it before the Lord continually; this portion is from the Israelites as a perpetual covenant. 9 It will belong to Aaron and his sons, and they must eat it in a holy place because it is most holy to him, a perpetually-allotted portion from the gifts of the Lord.” 10 Now an Israelite woman’s son whose father was an Egyptian went out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man had a fight in the camp. 11 The Israelite woman’s son misused the Name and cursed, so they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 So they placed him in custody until they were able to make a clear legal decision for themselves based on words from the mouth of the Lord.⁠ 13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 14 “Bring the one who cursed outside the camp, and all who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the whole congregation is to stone him to death. 15 Moreover, you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If any man curses his God, he will bear responsibility for his sin, 16 and one who misuses the name of the Lord⁠ must surely be put to death. The whole congregation must surely stone him, whether he is a resident foreigner or a native citizen; when he misuses the Name he must be put to death. 17 “‘If a man beats any person to death, he must be put to death. 18 One who beats an animal to death must make restitution for it, life for life. 19 If a man inflicts an injury on his fellow citizen, just as he has done it must be done to him—⁠ 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth—just⁠ as he inflicts an injury on another person that same injury must be inflicted on him. 21 One who beats an animal to death must make restitution for it, but one who beats a person to death must be put to death. 22 There will be one regulation for you, whether a resident foreigner or a native citizen, for I am the Lord your God.’”⁠ 23 Then Moses spoke to the Israelites and they brought the one who cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. So the Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 24:16 and LXX Leviticus 24:16

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

The Hebrew version of Leviticus says that misusing God’s name is a crime punishable by death. The Greek Septuagint translation narrows it to merely pronouncing it, so that speaking the name out loud at all brings death.

Passages

Leviticus 24:16

Hebrew Bible
15 Moreover, you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If any man curses his God, he will bear responsibility for his sin, 16 and one who misuses the name of the Lord must surely be put to death. The whole congregation must surely stone him, whether he is a resident foreigner or a native citizen; when he misuses the Name he must be put to death. 17 “‘If a man beats any person to death, he must be put to death.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

LXX Leviticus 24:16

Septuagint
15 And speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, Whoever shall curse God shall bear his sin. 16 And he that names the name of the Lord, let him die the death: let all the congregation of Israel stone him with stones; whether he is a stranger or a native, let him die for naming the name of the Lord. 17 And whoever shall strike a man and he dies, let him die the death.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Leviticus

References

"... The parallelism of the elements in verses 15c-16—class of persons, then violation, then penalty—suggests viewing verse 15a and 16a as different violations, which means 'curses God' (καταράσηται θεόν) and 'names the Lord's name' (ὀνομάζων τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου) are not two actions, but one (see possible allusions to verses 15-16 in Matthew 26:65-66; Mark 14:64; John 10:33). ..."
Mark A. Awabdy, Leviticus (Septuagint Commentary Series) (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 401.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 24:16 and LXX Leviticus 24:16

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