The Father's Lamp Burns Continually
24 1 Our Father spoke to Moses:
2 Command the Israelites to bring you pure, crushed olive oil for the light, to keep a lamp burning continually. 3 Outside the testimony's curtain in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall tend it before me from evening to morning, continually — a lasting law for your generations. a a v3 The 'testimony' refers to the stone tablets of the covenant housed in the Ark of the Covenant. 4 On the pure lampstand he must tend the lamps before me continually.
5 Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves, each about four and a half pounds of flour. 6 Arrange them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure table before me. 7 Put pure frankincense on each row as the bread's memorial portion, a food offering to me. 8 Every Sabbath he must arrange it before me continually, from the Israelites, a lasting covenant. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who must eat it in a holy place; it is a most holy portion for him from my food offerings, their permanent share.
The Father's Name Defended
10 The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was Egyptian, went out among the Israelites; the Israelite woman's son fought with an Israelite man in the camp. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse, and they brought him to Moses. His mother was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 They put him in custody until our Father made his will clear to them. 13 Then our Father spoke to Moses:
14 Bring the one who cursed outside the camp. Let all who heard lay their hands on his head, then let the whole congregation stone him. b b v14 Witnesses laid hands on the blasphemer's head to transfer back the guilt of having heard the curse. 15 Tell the Israelites: Whoever curses our Father will bear their sin. 16 Whoever blasphemes my name must die — the whole community must stone him. Foreigner and native-born alike: whoever blasphemes the Name must die.
17 Whoever kills any person must be put to death. 18 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution for it, life for life. 19 If anyone injures their neighbor, the same must be done to them: 20 Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as one injures another, so it is done to him. 21 Whoever kills an animal repays for it; whoever kills a person is put to death. 22 The same law applies to the foreigner and to the native-born alike, for I am your Father.
23 Moses told the Israelites; they took the one who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. The Israelites did as our Father commanded Moses.
