Leviticus 24:1–25:24

Olive Oil and Bread Set Before the Lord

24:1–3pp—Ex 27:20–21

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 ordinanceq for the generations to come. 4 The lamps on the pure gold lampstandr before the Lord must be tended continually.

5 “Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread,s using two-tenths of an ephaha t for each loaf. 6 Arrange them in two stacks, six in each stack, on the table of pure goldu before the Lord. 7 By each stack put some pure incensev as a memorialb portionw 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,x Sabbath after Sabbath,y on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons,z who are to eat it in the sanctuary area,a because it is a most holyb 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 Namec with a curse;d so they brought him to Moses.e (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.)f 12 They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.g

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.h 15 Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their Godi will be held responsible;j 16 anyone who blasphemesk the name of the Lord is to be put to death.l 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.m 18 Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitutionn—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.o The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution,p but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death.q 22 You are to have the same law for the foreignerr and the native-born.s I am the Lord your God.’ ”

23 Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him.t The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Sabbath Year

25 The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,u 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.v 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest,w a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.x 5 Do not reap what grows of itselfy or harvest the grapesz of your untended vines.a The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath yearb will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animalsc in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

The Year of Jubilee

25:8–38Ref—Dt 15:1–11
25:39–55Ref—Ex 21:2–11; Dt 15:12–18

8 “ ‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpetd sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month;e on the Day of Atonementf sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim libertyg throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubileeh for you; each of you is to return to your family propertyi and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubileej for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.k 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.

13 “ ‘In this Year of Jubileel everyone is to return to their own property.

14 “ ‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other.m 15 You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of yearsn since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price,o because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other,p but fear your God.q I am the Lord your God.r

18 “ ‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws,s and you will live safely in the land.t 19 Then the land will yield its fruit,u and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.v 20 You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh yearw if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” 21 I will send you such a blessingx in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.y 22 While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.z

23 “ ‘The landa must not be sold permanently, because the land is mineb and you reside in my land as foreignersc and strangers. 24 Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemptiond of the land.