Leviticus 24:10-23 – Who is Lord?

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan KS, 5 Mar. 2017

Introduction

v As recently as 1967, when Ashley Montagu wrote his book, Anatomy of Swearing, it was still a legal offense in every one of the United States to swear. It wasn’t enforced much, but it was on the books.

v Six years later, R.J. Rushdoony wrote a treatise on swearing in his Institutes of Biblical Law where he observed, “Godly oath-taking is a solemn and important religious act. Man aligns himself under God and in conformity to His righteousness to abide by his word even as God abides by His word… But ungodly swearing is a deliberate profanation of the purpose of the oath or vow; it is light use of it… to express contempt for God… it must posit another ultimate in God’s place… [T]here is a religious progression in profanity: it moves from a defiance of God to an invocation of excrement and sex…. The profane society invokes, not God, but the world of the illicit, the obscene, and the perverted… The downward trend of society is a quest for renewed energy, the shock of new force and vitality, and it is a perpetual quest for new profanations… This means… that profanity is a barometer. It is indicative of revolution in process.”

v In this next passage in Leviticus, we see a revolutionary pitted against the Divine Judge – a garrulous man who lashes out with words and blows versus the ultimate legal authority who holds the power of life or death over all mankind. It raises the question: Is Jesus your Lord – your authority? Are you treating Him with the kind of respect He deserves?

Exegesis

10 Now the son of an Israeli woman who was also the son of an Egyptian man got crosswise with some sons of Israel, and the son of the Israeli woman and a certain Israeli man got into a fight inside the camp.

v Literally, the Hebrew reads that this half-Hebrew, half Egyptian man “went out between the sons of Israel and they skirmished” – indicating to me

Ø that for some reason this guy got crosswise relationally with some Hebrew guys and that resulted in him getting in a fight with one of them.

Ø or perhaps he found some reason to leave the Israelite camp and then got into a fight on his way back in.

Ø The Jewish tradition, on the other hand, is that he was trying to pitch his tent with the tribe of Dan due to his mother’s lineage, but the Danites didn’t want them around, so they got into a legal battle over the issue.[1]

v Exodus 12:38 tells us that a “mixed multitude” accompanied the Jews out of Egypt, so there may have been quite a few people like this man in the camp of the Hebrews, and they may have pitched their tents outside the ranks of the twelve tribes.

v I imagine that the half-Egyptian man could well have been provoked by a racist comment hurled at him by one of the Hebrew men, (“You’re just a half-breed. You’re not one of us!”) or maybe the Hebrews questioned his loyalty to Israel (“Why did you leave the camp? Are you an Egyptian spy?”).

v But how he chose to deal with that ethnic slur (if indeed that’s what got all this started) was his own fault. Instead of seeking reconciliation and turning the discussion of their differences in ethnicity into a discussion of their agreement in following the one true God and expressing solidarity with the full-blooded Hebrews, it sounds to me like he started trying to bring in a little competition between Egypt and Israel and between the Egyptian gods and Israel’s God. The grammar here indicates that he was the aggressor, riling things up and picking a fight.

v I appreciate the application that Matthew Henry made on this verse: “When men's passion is up they are apt to forget both their reason and their religion, which is a good reason why we should not be apt either to give or to resent provocation, but leave off strife before it be meddled with, because the beginning of it is as the letting forth of water.”

11 Then the son of the Israeli woman invoked and made light of [God’s] name. So they brought him to Moses. (Now the name of his mother was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the family-tree of Dan.)

v In the rest of the Bible, when verb nqb occurs along with the Hebrew word for “name” as it does here in v.11, it means “to call by name,” and when the word “name” doesn’t occur alongside it, it generally it means “to pierce.” It is not translated “blasphemed” anywhere else in the Bible[2]. Everywhere else, it is translated literally “pierced/punctured” or figuratively “designated/called by name.” So I think that the text literally means that he spoke the name of the LORD (which is not wrong in-and-of itself), but the problem was that he “invoked the Name” in such a way as to insult God.[3]

v The Hebrew verb qallail occurs along with it, literally meaning “to make light of,” so I believe this was the nature of the offense, for a man to speak God’s name – the name of Yahweh – in such a way as to make light of who God is and to outspokenly deny that Yahweh is authoritative or alive or just or good (or any of His other character traits), which is certainly blasphemous.

v Perhaps he said something like, “Your Yahweh God is so lame. My Egyptian gods are better. Of course I want out of your camp; I can’t stand all your God’s rules. If it weren’t for my mom, I’d be out of here in an instant! I’m trying to find a better place for us to live.”

v He may not have fully realized how serious this was. Jamieson Fausset & Brown tell us that “It was a common practice among the Egyptians to curse their idols when disappointed in obtaining the object of their petitions.” (Of course, the Egyptians had so many gods that they could always try another one, but for someone who has found the true God above all gods, this isn’t an option!)

v This guy was probably an unrepentant offender at multiple levels:

Ø Jewish tradition says that he cursed the judges who judged his case, showing open rebellion against his government. (Gill)

Ø He probably hurt the guy he fought with, and that would explain why the justice of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is mentioned later in this same chapter of Leviticus.

Ø It’s also possible that this same guy flagrantly violated the Sabbath because we find the same words describing what they did with him also describing what the congregation did to a Sabbath violator in Numbers 15:33-36. Maybe it wasn’t him, but it’s mighty coincidental[4].

Ø R.J. Rushdoony’s commentary on this verse also notes: “He denied the entire structure of Israelite society and law, the very principle of order… His offense was, in effect, that he affirmed total revolution, absolute secession from any society which denied him his wishes.”

Ø These offences were why Moses and the judges took some extra time to hear from the LORD on this case. Matthew Henry wrote, “Those that sit in judgment should sincerely desire, and by prayer and the use of all good means should endeavour to know the mind of the Lord, because they judge for him (2Chron. 19:6) and to him they are accountable.”

v When we see the severity of the sentence God handed down for this man, we must assume that the man had a severely-hardened rebellious attitude in order to receive that kind of punishment.

Ø If the half-Egyptian had been soft in his heart toward God and had been repentant, God would have certainly been gracious and forgiving of him.

Ø This is the Old Testament Law: “[T]he priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally… and it shall be forgiven him. You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them. 'But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.” (Numbers 15:28-31, NKJV)

Ø As the Apostle James put it: “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13, NKJV)

v Yet even in the severity of the punishment we see a great example of due process. The Israelites didn’t form a lynch mob and kill him right away; instead they put him in custody; they gave it time; they got legal advice; they researched his family tree; they wrote it down, and the citizenry carried out the resulting sentence publicly and deliberately.

v Now, when they wrote the history down, they only kept the names of Israelite citizens in the record.

Ø There is a Jewish tradition that the father was the Egyptian man that Moses had killed earlier for abusing a Hebrew slave,

Ø and John Calvin noted that an Egyptian husband would have prevented his Israelite wife from taking their son, but since she had the freedom to take their son when she left Egypt, it would stand to reason that it could have been because her husband had been killed.

Ø At any rate, the son also dissociated himself from Israelite citizenship, so he is not named.

12 They then left him with the guard in order for them to sort it out on the basis of the mouth of Yahweh. 13 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring the blasphemer to the outside of the camp and all those who heard must lay their hands upon his head, and then the whole congress must heap him over [with stones]. 15 And you must speak to the children of Israel saying, ‘Each-and-every man that makes light of his God will also bear his sin. 16 The one who thus invokes the name of Yahweh must surely be put to death. The same goes for the visitor as well as the native-born; the whole congress must surely heap him over [with stones]. Because of his invoking of that Name he must be put to death.

v Because this man had rejected being in a covenantal relationship with God, he had to be taken outside the camp and treated like an outsider to the people of God. And it was also there that he was executed.

v Who was it that executed the blasphemer? The text here says the ‘eydah did the deed.

Ø This Hebrew word literally means “witness,” so it could mean that the body of witnesses who heard the blasphemy and who laid their hands on his head were the ones to stone the criminal.[5] It was traditional for these witnesses to say, as they laid their hands on the criminal, “Your blood be upon your own head, we will not be punished for this; you have caused your own death.” (Gill, Cohen)

Ø This word ‘eydah can also mean a body of representatives. I have translated it “congress” earlier in Leviticus, where it appeared that it was denoting representatives of the entire population of Israel, not the entire population itself;[6]

§ if this is the case here, there would be a distinction between the witnesses who laid hands on the criminal and the executors of the criminal; it would be the political representatives putting him to death in their capacity of civil office.

§ If this is the case, then the wording might imply, since it is required that “all” of them participate in the stoning, that there must be unanimous agreement of the congress that a death sentence is appropriate before a death sentence can be carried out. This would be yet another safeguard against oppression in God’s criminal justice system design.

§ Just as a side-note, the mode of capital punishment with projectiles, described here, would seem to accommodate the modern mode of a firing squad.

Ø A third possibility is that this word could mean the entire “congregation” of Israelite citizens – all who were “witnesses” to God’s national covenant with Israel. It would certainly make your average citizen think twice before taking the LORD’s name in vain afterward. But frankly, I don’t see the logistics working of several million people all throwing rocks at once, so I would rule out this third interpretation for practical reasons, despite the fact that all the other English translations went for this third meaning.

v Verse 15 has an important encouragement for those who carry out capitol punishment: Executing a criminal according to due process of justice does not put bloodguilt on the executioner. This also goes for the soldier who has to kill people in a war. God says that the criminal bears his own sin and guilt. Taking the ultimate measure to remove extreme evil from your community is simply something that must be done, says God in v.16,

Ø The NIV is missing a word which most English versions translate “surely” (“He must surely be put to death”). That extra word is in there because the Hebrew wording is strong and emphatic, literally “…dying he must be put to death, stoning they must stone him…”).

Ø No matter how much pity a caring human being may have for such a criminal, they were to be motivated by God’s emphatic command to kill the murderer, even though it was a horrific task that you would never want to do.

Ø This is underscored in the last verse in the chapter which once again states that they were not playing God but rather just obeying God when they executed this criminal.

v Next, God gives some more-general guidelines on criminal justice:

17 Now, in the case where a man kills any human life, he must surely be put to death. 18 The one who kills the life of an animal, however, must amend it, a life in the place of [that] life.

v God is no respecter of persons.

Ø I think that the NIV missed something significant by omitting the word “any” before the word for “human.”

Ø Throughout history, killers have rationalized that certain humans don’t matter and have callously murdered men, even engaging in horrific genocides,

§ from Hitler’s extermination of Jews,

§ to the situation in Rwanda where the Hutu tribe tried to kill everybody in the Tutsi tribe,

§ and we’ve seen it in our own country as American Indians and African-American babies have been slaughtered in war-like numbers, and our tax money paid salaries to the murderers.

Ø God’s word, on the other hand, says that every human soul matters. The murder of any human being, of whatever ethnicity, whichever gender, whatever age or status is so serious that it merits the death of the murderer. All human lives matter!

Ø This same principle was stated by God hundreds of years before Abraham in the days of Noah. Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” (NKJV) This is fair and just.

Ø I believe that a fair trial and a firing squad should be the default for every private assassin, every gangster that has committed a murder, and every abortionist. You can’t maintain a civilized society while tolerating and mollycoddling murderers.

v There are limits to this rule, however:

Ø It only applies to individuals; it does not rule out the option of a community using lethal force to defend itself against attackers or of a government agency executing a convicted criminal who has been duly tried.

Ø We’re also not talking about accidental deaths or soldiers defending law and order.

Ø It’s just if a man up and kills another human being, there should be equal consequences to him in order for justice to be fulfilled.

v Verse 18 tells us, however, that animals are not of the same class of life as human life.

Ø V.17 Kill a human; be killed, v.18 kill an animal; provide another animal to replace it.

Ø Justice and fairness does not require the death of anyone who takes the life of an animal.

Ø Killing an animal is not murder, it is more on the level of stealing.

19 And in the case where a man lands an injury on his fellow-man, according to what he did, thus it must be done to him. 20 Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth – according to what injury he landed on the person, it must thus be landed on him.

v What is stolen must be recompensed – animals, money, time, productivity, health, whatever.

v This is even applied to children injured before they were born, which gives us a Biblical basis for the full humanity of unborn children and a moral reason to treat abortion as murder.

v Exodus 21:18-27 gives more detail on the lex talionis principle of justice: “If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed… If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye. And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth.” (NKJV) The justice of this even-steven treatment holds true with social equals, but in relationships where one person has more power and authority than the other, the damages are weighted in favor of the less-privileged party.

v David mentions multiple times in the Psalms that it would be just for God to break the teeth of certain wicked men (Psalm 3:7; 58:6), so perhaps David himself got some teeth broken out during his fugitive years.

v But this “law of retaliation” (lex talionis in Latin) was not about revenge, it was about justice.

Ø Thus it was not to be the injured party who inflicted the damage back on the perpetrator, but an official of the justice system, and that only after a fair trial.

Ø Furthermore, the perpetrator could buy off loosing his eye or his tooth by compensating the victim for the loss of the victim’s eye or tooth. This would be clearly preferable to both victim and perpetrator, so this kind of financial restitution was more often what happened.

Ø Later on, when Jesus said in Matthew 5:38-39, “Y’all heard that it was declared, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ And I myself am saying to you not to stand opposed to the evil man, but rather, whichever one slaps you in your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” He was not repudiating the system of justice which He had set up under Moses, rather, He was warning individual victims against having bad attitudes.

Ø As modern commentator Gordon Wenham put it, “Christ’s followers are not to live on a tit-for-tat basis. Total selfless love like that of Christ must characterize their attitude to others… It is unlikely that our Lord’s remarks were intended to encourage judges to let offenders off scot-free. The NT recognizes that human judges must mete out punishments appropriate to the offence (Acts 25:11, Rom. 13:4, 1 Pet. 2:14, 20) and declares that it is on this basis that God will judge mankind (Luke 12:47-48, 1 Cor. 3:8ff.).”

Ø So it’s perfectly right for a victim to sue for damages in court, but it is not right for the victim to take revenge into his own hands or to hate the criminal because of what was done.

21 So the one who kills an animal must amend it, but the one who kills a human must be put to death. 22 There must be one justice-standard for y’all; it must be for the visitor as well as the native-born, for I am Yahweh, y’all’s God.’” 23 So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they made the blasphemer go out to the outside of the camp, and they heaped him over with stone. Thus the children of Israel acted according to what Yahweh had commanded Moses.

v The causal relationship is remarkable in this verse, so it is unfortunate that the NIV omitted the conjunction “for/because,” which is there in the original Hebrew (and in the ancient Greek translation which the NIV often commendably follows). “There must be one-and-the-same standard-of-law-and-justice that applies equally to everybody [WHY?] BECAUSE I am Yahweh your God.”

Ø Why must there be equal justice for all? Because of who your God is.

Ø If you are going to have Yahweh, the LORD as your God, then your laws and your justice system will have to conform to His character.

Ø His character is unified, fair, equitable, and it is the only true source of liberty and justice. No other religion provides such a perfect standard of justice. And no state can offer such an outlandishly-utopian claim as “liberty and justice for all” unless it is backed up by a God who can really do it. The only God who can deliver that is Yahweh, the LORD, through Jesus His eternal Son.

Conclusion

v The fact that in the New Testament, Steven the deacon was taken outside the gates and stoned to death for blasphemy under the application of this very Levitical law raises a point about Jesus,

Ø who was also convicted of blasphemy, taken outside the gates, and executed for it.

Ø The statements which Jesus made about Himself and which Steven made about Jesus clearly equated Jesus with God – so clearly that the judges were unanimous.

Ø In both trials, the problem was the assumption that it was blasphemy against God to equate Jesus with God, an assumption which we realize to be false.

Ø Jesus rose from the dead to substantiate His claim, and later blinded and admonished from heaven one of the officials who presided over Stephen’s martyrdom. The opposite is therefore true; it is blasphemy not to equate Jesus with God. Jesus is the LORD.

v Are there any ways we do not treat Jesus with the respect He deserves for the authority He holds? Any ways that we blaspheme God?

Ø “God would not have His holy name disrespectfully traduced; and assuredly it is insupportably impious when the tongue of mortal man, which was created to celebrate the praises of God, is employed in insulting Him… and assuredly it is a frivolous subterfuge to require that blasphemies should be pardoned on the ground that they have been uttered in anger; for nothing is more intolerable than that our wrath should vent itself upon God, when we are angry with one of our fellow-creatures… as if God were to endure the penalty whenever we are provoked!” ~John Calvin, Harmony of the Pentateuch

Ø You deserve the death sentence for every time you have taken God’s name in vain, but God has mercifully let you live and has offered to you the good news that you can be reconciled to God and absolved of your guilt by believing that Jesus died on the cross in your place to pay for your sin and trusting Jesus to make you right.

Ø If you have never done that, will you repent of your rebellion right now as we pray and receive forgiveness and re-align under the authority of the Lord Jesus?

Comparative translations of Leviticus 24:10-23

When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original Hebrew, I use ~~strikeout~~. And when a version omits a word which is in the Hebrew text, I insert an X. (Sometimes I will place the X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. Hebrew text that is colored purple matches the Dead Sea Scrolls, and variants between the DSS and the MT are noted in endnotes with the following exceptions: When a holem or qibbutz pointing in the MT is represented in the DSS by a vav, when a hireq pointing in the MT is represented in the DSS by a yod (the corresponding consonantal representation of the same vowel), or when the tetragrammaton is spelled with paleo-Hebrew letters, I did not record it a variant. Dead Sea Scrolls which contain Leviticus 24 are 11Q1 (Verses 9-14), 4Q23 (Verses 11-14), and 4Q24 (Verses 2-14, 16-17, 19-21 & 23).

LXX	Brenton	KJV	NAW	MT
10 Καὶ ἐξῆλθεν υἱὸς γυναικὸς Ισραηλίτιδος καὶ οὗτος ἦν υἱὸς Αἰγυπτίου ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ, καὶ ἐμαχέσαντο ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ ὁ ἐκ τῆς Ισραηλίτιδος καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ Ισραηλίτης,	10 And there went forth a son of an Israelitish woman, and he was son of an Egyptian man among the sons of Israel; and they fought in the camp, the son of the Israelitish woman, and a man who was an Israelite.	10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;	10 Now the son of an Israeli woman who was also the son of an Egyptian man got crosswise with some sons of Israel, and the son of the Israeli woman and a certain Israeli man got into a fight inside the camp.	10 וַיֵּצֵא בֶּן-אִשָּׁה יִשְׂרְאֵלִית וְהוּא בֶּן-אִישׁ מִצְרִי בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּנָּצוּ בַּמַּחֲנֶה בֶּן הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית וְאִישׁ הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי[A]:
11 καὶ ἐπονομάσας ὁ υἱὸς τῆς γυναικὸς τῆς Ισραηλίτιδος τὸ ὄνομα κατηράσατο, καὶ ἤγαγον αὐτὸν πρὸς Μωυσῆν· καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Σαλωμιθ θυγάτηρ Δαβρι ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Δαν.	11 And the son of the Israelitish woman named THE NAME and curse; and they brought him to Moses: and his mother's name was Salomith, daughter of Dabri of the tribe of Dan.	11 And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)	11 Then the son of the Israeli woman invoked and made light of [God’s] name. So they brought him to Moses. (Now the name of his mother was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the family-tree of Dan.)	11 וַיִּקֹּב בֶּן-הָאִשָּׁה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית אֶת-הַשֵּׁם וַיְקַלֵּל וַיָּבִיאוּ אֹתוֹ אֶל-מֹשֶׁה וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ שְׁלֹמִית בַּת-דִּבְרִי לְמַטֵּה-דָן:
12 καὶ ἀπέθεντο αὐτὸν εἰς φυλακὴν διακρῖναι ~~αὐτὸν~~ διὰ προστάγματος κυρίου.	12 And they put him in ward, to judge ~~him~~ by the command of the Lord.	12 And they put him in ward, that X the mind of the LORD might [be] shewed them.	12 They then left him with the guard in order for them to sort it out on the basis of the mouth of Yahweh.	12 וַיַּנִּיחֻהו[B]ּ בַּמִּשְׁמָר לִפְרֹשׁ לָהֶם עַל-פִּי יְהוָה:פ
13 καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων	13 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,	13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,	13 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,	13 וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
14 Ἐξάγαγε τὸν καταρασάμενον ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς, καὶ ἐπιθήσουσιν πάντες οἱ ἀκούσαντες τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ λιθοβολήσουσιν αὐτὸν πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγή.	14 Bring forth him that cursed outside the camp, and all who heard shall lay their hands upon his head, and all the congregation shall stone him.	14 Bring forth him that hath cursed X without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.	14 “Bring the blasphemer to the outside of the camp and all those who heard must lay their hands upon his head, and then the whole congress must heap him over [with stones].	14 הוֹצֵא אֶת-הַמְקַלֵּל אֶל-מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה וְסָמְכוּ כָל-הַשֹּׁמְעִים אֶת-יְדֵיהֶם עַל-רֹאשׁוֹ וְרָגְמוּ[C] אֹתוֹ כָּל-הָעֵדָה:
LXX	Brenton	KJV	NAW	MT
15 καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ λάλησον [καὶ] ἐρ~~εῖς~~ πρὸς αὐτούς Ἄνθρωπος, ὃς ἐὰν καταράσηται θεόν X, X ἁμαρτίαν λήμψεται·	15 And speak to the sons of Israel, [and thou shalt] say to them, Whosoever shall curse X God shall X bear his sin.	15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall X bear his sin.	15 And you must speak to the children of Israel saying, ‘Each-and-every man that makes light of his God will also bear his sin.	15 וְאֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל תְּדַבֵּר לֵאמֹר אִישׁ אִישׁ כִּי-יְקַלֵּל אֱלֹהָיו[D] וְנָשָׂא חֶטְאוֹ:
16 ὀνομάζων δὲ τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου θανάτῳ θανατούσθω· ~~λίθοις~~ λιθοβολείτω αὐτὸν πᾶσα συναγωγὴ [Ισραηλ]· ἐάν τε προσήλυτος ἐάν τε αὐτόχθων, ἐν τῷ ὀνομάσαι αὐτὸν τὸ ὄνομα [κυρίου] τελευτάτω.	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 be a stranger or X a native, let him die for naming the name [of the Lord].	16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.	16 The one who thus invokes the name of Yahweh must surely be put to death. The same goes for the visitor as well as the native-born; the whole congress must surely heap him over [with stones]. Because of his invoking of that Name he must be put to death.	16 וְנֹקֵב שֵׁם-יְהוָה מוֹת יוּמָת רָגוֹם יִרְגְּמוּ-בוֹ כָּל-הָעֵדָה כַּגֵּר כָּאֶזְרָח בְּנָקְבוֹ-שֵׁם[E] יוּמָת:
17 καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ὃς ἂν πατάξῃ X ψυχὴν ἀνθρώπου [καὶ ἀποθάνῃ], θανάτῳ θανατούσθω.	17 And whosoever shall smite X X a man [and he die], let him die the death.	17 And he that killeth any man X shall surely be put to death.	17 Now, in the case where a man kills any human life, he must surely be put to death.	17 וְאִישׁ כִּי יַכֶּה כָּל-נֶפֶשׁ אָדָם מוֹת יוּמָת:
18 καὶ ὃς [ἂν] πατάξῃ X κτῆνος [καὶ ἀποθάνῃ], ἀποτεισάτω ψυχὴν ἀντὶ ψυχῆς.	18 And who[soever] shall smite a beast, [and it shall die,] let him render life for life.	18 And he that ~~killeth~~ X a beast shall make it good; beast for beast.	18 The one who kills the life of an animal, however, must amend it, a life in the place of [that] life.	18 וּמַכֵּה נֶפֶשׁ-בְּהֵמָה יְשַׁלְּמֶנָּה נֶפֶשׁ תַּחַת נָפֶשׁ:
19 καὶ ἐάν τις δῷ μῶμον τῷ πλησίον, ὡς X ἐποίησεν αὐτῷ, ὡσαύτως [ἀντι]ποιηθήσεται αὐτῷ·	19 And whosoever shall inflict a blemish on his neighbour, as X he has done [to him], so shall it be done to himself [in return];	19 And if a man ~~cause~~ a blemish in his neighbour; as X he hath done, so shall it be done to him;	19 And in the case where a man lands an injury on his fellow-man, according to what he did, thus it must be done to him.	19 וְאִישׁ כִּי-יִתֵּן מוּם בַּעֲמִיתוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כֵּן יֵעָשֶׂה לּוֹ:
20 σύντριμμα ἀντὶ συντρίμματος, ὀφθαλμὸν ἀντὶ ὀφθαλμοῦ, ὀδόντα ἀντὶ ὀδόντος· καθότι ἂν δῷ μῶμον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, οὕτως δοθήσεται αὐτῷ.	20 bruise for bruise, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as any one may inflict a blemish on a man, so shall it be rendered to him.	20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.	20 Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth – according to what injury he landed on the person, it must thus be landed on him.	20 שֶׁבֶר תַּחַת שֶׁבֶר עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן שֵׁן תַּחַת שֵׁן כַּאֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן מוּם בָּאָדָם כֵּן יִנָּתֶן בּוֹ:
21 X X X X X ὃς [ἂν] πατάξῃ ἄνθρωπον [καὶ ἀποθάνῃ,] θανάτῳ θανατούσθω·	21 X X X X X X X X X Whosoever shall smite a man, [and he shall die], let him die the death.	21 And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.	21 So the one who kills an animal must amend it, but the one who kills a human must be put to death.	21 וּמַכֵּה בְהֵמָה יְשַׁלְּמֶנָּה[F] וּמַכֵּה אָדָם יוּמָת:
LXX	Brenton	KJV	NAW	MT
22 δικαίωσις μία ἔσται X X τῷ προσηλύτῳ καὶ τῷ ἐγχωρίῳ X , ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν.	22 There shall be one judgment X X X X for the stranger and the native, for I am the Lord your God.	22 Ye shall ~~have~~ one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.	22 There must be one justice-standard for y’all; it must be for the visitor as well as the native-born, for I am Yahweh, y’all’s God.’”	22 מִשְׁפַּט אֶחָד יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כַּגֵּר כָּאֶזְרָח יִהְיֶה כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם:
23 καὶ ἐλάλησεν Μωυσῆς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ καὶ ἐξήγαγον τὸν καταρασάμενον ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς καὶ ἐλιθοβόλησαν αὐτὸν ἐν λίθ~~οις~~· καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ ἐποίησαν καθὰ συνέταξεν κύριος τῷ Μωυσῇ.	23 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they brought him that had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones: and the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.	23 And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stone[s]. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.	23 So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they made the blasphemer go out to the outside of the camp, and they heaped him over with stone. Thus the children of Israel acted according to what Yahweh had commanded Moses.	23 וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיּוֹצִיאוּ אֶת-הַמְקַלֵּל אֶל-מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה וַיִּרְגְּמוּ אֹתוֹ אָבֶן[G] וּבְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל עָשׂוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת-מֹשֶׁה: פ

[1] John Gill, following the Targums of Jonathan suggested that third possibility as well as other possible meanings: “[S]ome say he went out of Moses's court of judicature; but it is more likely that the meaning is, he went out of his tent [with this, Calvin and K&D agree]… though the Jewish writers, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra, take this phrase, ‘among the children of Israel’, to signify that he was a proselyte, and became a Jew, or had embraced the Jewish religion in all respects”

[2] All other occurrences of this word in the Bible: Genesis 30:28; Numbers 1:17; 2 Kings 12:9; 18:21; 1 Chronicles 12:31; 16:41; 2 Chronicles 28:15; 31:19; Ezra 8:20; Job 40:24; 41:2; Isaiah 36:6; 62:2; Amos 6:1; Habakkuk 3:14; Haggai 1:6

[3] John Calvin went to some lengths with explaining the translation of this word, and he picked up on the nuance of “improper cross-application of use” in the meaning with the French “transpercer” and Latin proscindre or lacerare, which was translated into English as “transfix” and “traduce.”

[4] Rashi wrote that it was two different guys who transgressed at the same time and were put in jail together, but Calvin wrote that the two incidents occurred far apart from each other; after all, one is in Leviticus, and one is in Numbers.

[5] This was the opinion of Rashi and Maimonides but Keil & Delitzsch rejected it.