Knox Bible

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And the Lord said to Moses,

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Bid the sons of Israel bring thee oil of the olive, pure and clear, to feed at all times the lamps

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before the veil, where the ark bears record of me in the tabernacle that attests my covenant. Aaron shall set them there to burn before the Lord from evening to morning; a rite you shall observe continually, age after age.

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They shall be set there always in the Lord’s presence, on the lamp-stand that is of pure gold.

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Take flour, too, and bake twelve loaves of it, a peck of flour to each of them;

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these must be set on the table of pure gold that stands there before the Lord, six on each side of it.

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And put grains of fine incense on them; the bread is to be a token-sacrifice to the Lord.

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Every sabbath day new loaves shall be set there, Israel’s covenanted gift in perpetuity;

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the old will be for the use of Aaron and his sons, who are to eat them on holy ground; they are set apart for holy uses, reserved out of the Lord’s offerings as the prerogative of the priests for ever.

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There was a man who had been born in the camp of Israel, his mother an Israelite, his father an Egyptian; and this man, quarrelling there with a true-born Israelite,

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blasphemed the Lord’s name in heaping curses upon him. So they brought him before Moses. (His mother’s name was Salumith, daughter to Dabri, of the tribe of Dan.)

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And he was put under guard, while they waited to know the Lord’s mind concerning him.

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And this was the word the Lord gave Moses:

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Take the blasphemer beyond the confines of the camp; let all those who were listening lay their hands on his head, and let the whole people put him to death by stoning.

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Tell the Israelites this: The man who curses his God will be held to account for it;

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he blasphemed the Lord’s name, and he must die. Be he citizen or stranger, he must be stoned by the whole people; death for the blasphemer.

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Death, too, for anyone who smites a man and kills him.

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If he injures a beast, he can make it good; one beast will do as well as another;

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but if he causes injury to one of his fellow-countrymen, he must pay for it in the same coin,

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making amends for broken limb with broken limb, for eye with eye, for tooth with tooth; the loss he inflicted, he must undergo.

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Restitution for harm done to a beast; for harm done to a man, punishment.

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Your award must be the same, whether it was citizen or stranger that did the wrong; it is a just God you worship.

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So Moses gave word to the Israelites, and they, obedient to the Lord’s command, took the blasphemer beyond the confines of the camp, and there stoned him.