The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible — Leviticus 24:10

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Leviticus 24:10–16 — Punishment for Blasphemy. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The son of an Israelitish woman named Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan, and of an Egyptian whom the Israelitish woman had married, went out into the midst of the children of Israel, i.e., went out of his tent or place of encampment among the Israelites. As the son of an Egyptian, he belonged to the foreigners who had gone out with Israel ( Exodus 12:38 ), and who probably had their tents somewhere apart from those of the Israelites, who were encamped according to their tribes ( Numbers 2:2 ). Having got into a quarrel with an Israelite, this man scoffed at the name (of Jehovah) and cursed. The cause of the quarrel is not given, and cannot be determined.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

by this severity against him who was a stranger by the father, and an Israelite by the mother, to show that God would not have this sin to go unpunished amongst his people, whatsoever he was that committed it. Went out, to wit, out of Egypt, being one of that mixed multitude which came out with the Israelites, Exodus 12:38 . It is probable this was done when the Israelites were near Sinai. Strove together: this is added to show that provocation to sin is no justification of sin.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

The "mixed multitude" [Ex 12:38] that accompanied the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt creates a presumption that marriage connections of the kind described were not infrequent. And it was most natural, in the relative circumstances of the two people, that the father should be an Egyptian and the mother an Israelite.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

This is the only place where the adjective Israelitish is found; and the word "Israelite" only occurs in 2 Samuel 17:25 . Whose father was an Egyptian. The man could not, therefore, be a member of the congregation, as, according to the subsequently promulgated law ( Deuteronomy 23:8 ), the descendant of an Egyptian could not be admitted till the third generation.

The rarity Pulpit flags is load-bearing for the cross-references below: H3481 occurs in only three verses in the whole OT, which is why the Verifier rates the Lev 24:11 ↔ 2 Sam 17:25 link as verbal, not merely thematic.

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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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ben- yiś·rə·’ê·lîṯ wə·hū ben- ’iš·šāh miṣ·rî ’îš way·yê·ṣê bə·ṯō·wḵ bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl way·yin·nā·ṣū bam·ma·ḥă·neh ben hay·yiś·rə·’ê·lîṯ hay·yiś·rə·’ê·lî wə·’îš

Word by word17 · parsed

בֶּן־ben-Now the sonH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct

ben- (H1121, bên) — the whole pericope hangs on sonship: the offender is named only as “the son of” this woman and that man, never by his own name. Scripture withholds his name and records his mother's (v. 11), so that he is defined by a lineage the narrative judges to be the root of the trouble.

יִשְׂרְאֵלִ֔יתyiś·rə·’ê·lîṯof an IsraeliteH3481

√ Yisrᵉʼêlîy — a Jisreelite or descendant of JisraelNounproperfeminine singular

yiś·rə·’ê·lîṯ (H3481) — the feminine of a strikingly rare adjective. The Pulpit Commentary observes verbatim that “this is the only place where the adjective Israelitish is found; and the word ‘Israelite’ only occurs in 2 Samuel 17:25.” The narrator reaches for an unusual word to mark an unusual person — half inside the covenant, half outside.

וְהוּא֙wə·hū. . .H1931

√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Conjunctive wawPronounthird person masculine singular

בֶּן־ben-H1121

אִשָּׁ֣ה’iš·šāhmotherH802

√ ʼishshâh — a womanNounfeminine singular

מִצְרִ֔יmiṣ·rîand an EgyptianH4713

√ Mitsrîy — a Mitsrite, or inhabitant of MitsrajimNounpropermasculine singular

miṣ·rî (H4713) — “an Egyptian.” JFB notes the social plausibility: in the wake of the exodus, “it was most natural… that the father should be an Egyptian and the mother an Israelite.” The detail is not incidental; the commentators read the mixed marriage as the seed of the apostasy that follows.

אִ֣ישׁ’îšfatherH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular

וַיֵּצֵא֙way·yê·ṣêwent outH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

בְּת֖וֹךְbə·ṯō·wḵamongH8432

√ tâvek — a bisection, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêvvvH1121

יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לyiś·rā·’êlthe IsraelitesH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

וַיִּנָּצוּ֙way·yin·nā·ṣūand a fight broke outH5327

√ nâtsâh — properly, to go forth, iConjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

way·yin·nā·ṣū (H5327) — the quarrel itself. The Hebrew is reticent about its cause (Keil: “the cause of the quarrel is not given, and cannot be determined”), and Poole draws the moral straight from the grammar: the striving “is added to show that provocation to sin is no justification of sin.” What follows is the man's own, not his opponent's fault.

בַּֽמַּחֲנֶ֔הbam·ma·ḥă·nehin the campH4264

√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Preposition-b, ArticleNouncommon singular

בֶּ֚ןben[between him]H1121

ben (H1121) — repeated a third time in this single verse. The triple “son of” frames the man on both sides — son of an Israelite mother, son of an Egyptian man — leaving him suspended between two peoples, a tension the rest of the unit will resolve by declaring the law binds both stranger and native (v. 16).

הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִ֔יתhay·yiś·rə·’ê·lîṯ. . .H3481

√ Yisrᵉʼêlîy — a Jisreelite or descendant of JisraelArticleNounproperfeminine singular

הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִֽי׃hay·yiś·rə·’ê·lîand an IsraeliteH3481

√ Yisrᵉʼêlîy — a Jisreelite or descendant of JisraelArticleNounpropermasculine singular

וְאִ֖ישׁwə·’îšH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-went-out a-son-of a-woman an-Israelite — and-he a-son-of a-man an-Egyptian — into-the-midst-of the-sons-of Israel; and-they-strove-together in-the-camp, the-son-of the-Israelite-woman and-a-man, the-Israelite.

Where the English smooths the original

וְהוּא֙ The Hebrew interrupts itself with a parenthetical pronoun-clause — wə·hū bēn ʼiš·šāh miṣ·rî, literally “and-he (was) a son of a man, an Egyptian” (H1931). The smooth BSB “and an Egyptian father” hides the abruptness of a narrator pausing mid-sentence to flag the mixed parentage as the hinge of the whole story.
וַיִּנָּצוּ֙ BSB “a fight broke out” renders way·yin·nā·ṣū (H5327, nâtsâh), a Niphal reciprocal — “they struggled / strove with one another.” It is mutual combat, two men grappling, not a one-sided assault; the English makes it sound like an event that happened to them rather than something they did to each other.
בְּת֖וֹךְ BSB “among” flattens bə·ṯō·wḵ (H8432, tâvek), “into the very midst.” Ellicott and Keil press the spatial force: the man “went out into the midst,” intruding where a son of the mixed multitude had no settled place — the trespass that set the quarrel in motion.
אִ֣ישׁ The same word ʼîš (H376, “a man”) is used both for the Egyptian father (here, glossed “father”) and for the Danite “man of Israel” at the verse's end. Hebrew sets the two men in deliberate parallel — Egyptian man and Israelite man — a symmetry the varied English renderings (“father” / “an Israelite”) lose.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Better, cursed the Name and reviled. In accordance with the above interpretation, this happened after sentence was given against him, and when they had left the court. Being vexed with the Divine enactments which excluded him from encamping in the tribe of his mother, he both cursed God who gave such law, and reviled the judges who pronounced judgment against him. The expression, “the Name,” which in after times was commonly used instead of the Ineffable Jehovah, has been substituted here for the Tetragrammaton by a transcriber who out of reverence would not combine cursing with it.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The Heb. verb denotes ‘to indicate by name’ either honourably or with reproach. In the latter sense it is used in Numbers 23:8 ; Proverbs 11:26 , etc., and obviously must be so interpreted here. But the Jews, taking the word in its more general sense, understood the passage as forbidding the mention of the Sacred Name, and wherever it occurs in the Scriptures they either pronounced it Adônai instead (rendered in English by ‘the Lord’), or, where the word Adônai was itself in immediate juxtaposition with the Sacred Name, they substituted for the latter Elôhîm.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

He blasphemed the name — So called by way of eminence; that name which is above every name; that name which a man should in some sort tremble to mention; which is not to be named without cause, or without reverence. And cursed — Not the Israelite only, but his God also, as appears from Leviticus 24:15-16 .

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

so the Jews generally understand by the "name" blasphemed, the name Jehovah, which he spake out plainly, and which, they say, is ineffable, and ought not to be pronounced but by the high priest in the sanctuary; but this man expressed it in its proper sound, and made use of it to curse the man that strove with him, or the judge that judged him; so it is said in the Misnah (d),"a blasphemer is not guilty until he expresses the name;''but it undoubtedly means blaspheming God himself, by whatsoever name

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The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ben- hay·yiś·rə·’ê·lîṯ hā·’iš·šāh ’eṯ- way·yiq·qōḇ haš·šêm way·qal·lêl way·yā·ḇî·’ū ’ō·ṯōw ’el- mō·šeh ’im·mōw wə·šêm šə·lō·mîṯ baṯ- diḇ·rî lə·maṭ·ṭêh- ḏān

Word by word18 · parsed

בֶּן־ben-The sonH1121

הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִ֤יתhay·yiś·rə·’ê·lîṯof the IsraeliteH3481

√ Yisrᵉʼêlîy — a Jisreelite or descendant of JisraelArticleNounproperfeminine singular

הָֽאִשָּׁ֨הhā·’iš·šāhwomanH802

√ ʼishshâh — a womanArticleNounfeminine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וַ֠יִּקֹּבway·yiq·qōḇblasphemedH5344

√ nâqab — to puncture, literally (to perforate, with more or less violence) or figuratively (to specify, designate, libel)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

way·yiq·qōḇ (H5344) — the crux of the chapter, and the seed of a long Jewish controversy. Keil records that “the Jews… have taken the word נקב in this passage from time immemorial in the sense of ἐπονομάζειν (lxx),” i.e., merely pronouncing the Name — “and founded upon it the well-known law, against even uttering the name Jehovah.” The Mishnah (Gill cites Sanhedrin 7.5) ruled “a blasphemer is not guilty until he expresses the name.” Keil insists the bad sense is required “from the expression ‘and cursed.’

הַשֵּׁם֙haš·šêmthe NameH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityArticleNounmasculine singular

haš·šêm (H8034) — “the Name,” used absolutely. Keil: “‘The name’ κατ’ ἐξ. is the name ‘Jehovah’… in which God manifested His nature. It was this passage that gave rise to the custom, so prevalent among the Rabbins, of using the expression ‘name,’ or ‘the name,’ for Dominus, or Deus.” Benson calls it “that name which is above every name; that name which a man should in some sort tremble to mention.”

וַיְקַלֵּ֔לway·qal·lêlwith a curseH7043

√ qâlal — to be (causatively, make) light, literally (swift, small, sharp, etcConjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

way·qal·lêl (H7043, qâlal) — “and cursed.” Literally “to make light, to treat as of little weight.” To curse, in Hebrew, is to belittle — the exact opposite of kâbod (weight/glory). The blasphemer's sin is to make the weightiest Name weightless. The same root returns as ham·qal·lêl, “the one making-light,” the participle that becomes the offender's title in v. 14.

וַיָּבִ֥יאוּway·yā·ḇî·’ūSo they broughtH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

אֹת֖וֹ’ō·ṯōwhimH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine singular

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

מֹשֶׁ֑הmō·šehMosesH4872

√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular

אִמּ֛וֹ’im·mōw(His mother’sH517

√ ʼêm — a mother (as the bond of the family)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וְשֵׁ֥םwə·šêmnameH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

שְׁלֹמִ֥יתšə·lō·mîṯwas ShelomithH8019

√ Shᵉlômîyth — Shelomith, the name of five Israelites and three IsraelitessesNounproperfeminine singular

šə·lō·mîṯ (H8019, Shelomith) — the one name the narrative does record, ironically built on shalom, “peace.” Gill notes the genealogy is given “to show in what tribe this affair happened, and what the quarrel was first about, even a place and rank in this tribe.” Her name and tribe (Dan) anchor the story in a real family and make the Danite opponent of v. 10 a kinsman.

בַּת־baṯ-daughterH1323

√ bath — a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine singular construct

דִּבְרִ֖יdiḇ·rîof DibriH1704

√ Dibrîy — Dibri, an IsraeliteNounproperfeminine singular

לְמַטֵּה־lə·maṭ·ṭêh-of the tribeH4294

√ maṭṭeh — a branch (as extending)Preposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

lə·maṭ·ṭêh- (H4294) dān (H1835) — “of the tribe of Dan.” The mother is a Danite; the man with whom her son strove was, by tradition, also a Danite (so Ellicott, Gill, Pulpit). The quarrel, on this reading, was over the half-Egyptian's claim to encamp under Dan's standard by maternal right — a claim the law of paternal lineage (Numbers 2:2) denied him.

דָֽן׃ḏānof DanH1835

√ Dân — Dan, one of the sons of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-pierced the-son-of the-Israelite-woman the-Name, and-cursed; and-they-brought him to Moses. (And-the-name-of his-mother was Shelomith daughter-of Dibri, of-the-tribe-of Dan.)

Where the English smooths the original

וַ֠יִּקֹּב BSB “blasphemed” renders way·yiq·qōḇ (H5344, nâqab), whose root sense is concrete and violent: “to puncture, to bore through, to perforate.” Keil traces the path “to bore, hollow out, then to sting… to prick in malam partem, to taunt, i.e., to blaspheme.” The man did not merely speak ill; the verb pictures him boring into the holy Name as one stabs through a wall.
הַשֵּׁם֙ BSB “the Name” faithfully keeps haš·šêm (H8034), but the original conceals more than it shows. Poole and the Cambridge Bible explain that “the words of the Lord… here they are omitted, perhaps for the aggravation of his crime” — and that pious copyists later substituted “the Name” for the Tetragrammaton out of reverence, refusing to write blasphemy next to Yahweh.
וַיְקַלֵּ֔ל BSB “with a curse” turns a finite verb into a prepositional phrase. way·qal·lêl (H7043, qâlal, Piel) is a second, distinct action — “and he cursed / reviled.” The Hebrew lists two verbs in sequence (pierced… and cursed); the smooth English fuses them into one act, blurring the doubled offense the law will answer with two clauses in vv. 15–16.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

And they put him in ward. —That is, to keep him in safe custody till he had been tried. In the Mosaic legislation confinement in a prison for a certain period as a punishment for an offence is nowhere enacted.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

that it might be declared unto them at the mouth of the Lord ] more exact than the A.V. ‘that the mind of the Lord might be shewn them.’

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The offender may already have been pronounced guilty by the rulers (see Exodus 18:21-22 ), and the case was referred to Moses in order that the punishment might be awarded by the divine decree. No law had as yet been enacted against blasphemy except by implication.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The same course was followed in the case of the man found gathering sticks upon the sabbath day: "And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him" ( Numbers 15:34 ). The same penalty was awarded in both cases.

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They placed him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yan·nî·ḥu·hū bam·miš·mār pî Yah·weh lip̄·rōš lā·hem ‘al-

Word by word7 · parsed

וַיַּנִּיחֻ֖הוּway·yan·nî·ḥu·hūThey placed himH5117

√ nûwach — to rest, iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine pluralthird person masculine singular

way·yan·nî·ḥu·hū (H5117) — “and they left/set him.” Confinement here is custodial, not penal. Ellicott: “In the Mosaic legislation confinement in a prison for a certain period as a punishment for an offence is nowhere enacted.” The ward is a holding-place until God speaks, not a sentence in itself.

בַּמִּשְׁמָ֑רbam·miš·mārin custodyH4929

√ mishmâr — a guard (the man, the post or the prison)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

bam·miš·mār (H4929, mishmâr) — “in custody / the guard.” A relatively rare noun (20 verses); its presence here and in Numbers 15:34 is one strand of the verbal tie between the two ‘held-until-God-speaks’ narratives. The Pulpit Commentary names the parallel outright: the same course was followed with the man gathering sticks on the sabbath.

פִּ֥יpîuntil the willH6310

√ peh — the mouth (as the means of blowing), whether literal or figurative (particularly speech)Nounmasculine singular construct

pî (H6310) — “the mouth of.” The honest theological pivot of the verse. Barnes and Benson agree the case was held over “that the punishment might be awarded by the divine decree,” because “no law had as yet been enacted against blasphemy except by implication.” Even Moses does not legislate here; he waits on the mouth of YHWH.

יְהוָֽה׃פYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

Yahweh (H3068) — the covenant name closes the verse, and the case. The whole point of the ward is that the verdict belongs to Him alone. Gill weighs the uncertainty exactly: cursing a parent was death (Exod 21:17), “and much more blaspheming God, yet what death to put him to they might be at a loss about.”

לִפְרֹ֥שׁlip̄·rōšshould be made clearH6567

√ pârâsh — to separate, literally (to disperse) or figuratively (to specify)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

lip̄·rōš (H6567, pârâsh) — “to make distinct/declare.” The same verb means “to read/expound clearly” in Nehemiah 8:8 and “to separate/scatter” elsewhere; here it is God making His judgment unambiguous. The rarity of the root (5 verses) is what lets the Verifier tier the Numbers 15:34 link as verbal rather than thematic.

לָהֶ֖םlā·hemto them

Preposition-lPronounthird person masculine plural

עַל־‘al-. . .H5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-they-set-him in-the-guard-house, to make-clear for-them according-to the-mouth-of YHWH.

Where the English smooths the original

וַיַּנִּיחֻ֖הוּ BSB “they placed him” renders way·yan·nî·ḥu·hū (H5117, nûwach), a Hiphil of the verb for “to rest, to set down, to leave.” Its root is the same word behind Noah and the ark's resting — here grimly inverted: the man is laid to rest in custody, given over to wait. The same verb opens the parallel sabbath-breaker account (Numbers 15:34).
פִּ֥י BSB “the will of the LORD” is interpretive; the Hebrew is concrete — pî Yahweh (H6310, peh), “the mouth of YHWH.” Cambridge corrects the AV here verbatim: “at the mouth of the Lord… more exact than the A.V. ‘that the mind of the Lord might be shewn them.’” God will not be inferred from precedent; His actual spoken verdict is awaited.
לִפְרֹ֥שׁ BSB “should be made clear” renders lip̄·rōš (H6567, pârâsh), “to separate, to make distinct, to declare precisely.” Keil: “פּרשׁ: to separate, distinguish, then to determine exactly, which is the sense both here and in Numbers 15:34.” The verb is technical and rare — the same word the Verifier uses to bind this verse to the sabbath-breaker case.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

In none of these instances, however, is it stated how and where Moses made this appeal to God, whether he inquired by means of the Urim and Thummim, or otherwise. As God promised to reveal His will to Moses from the mercy-seat between the cherubim ( Exodus 25:22 ), it is probable that the lawgiver received the Divine directions in the sanctuary.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

From off the mercy seat in the holy of holies, where he had promised to meet him and commune with him about anything he should inquire of him, as he did at this time

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The offender may already have been pronounced guilty by the rulers (see Exodus 18:21-22 ), and the case was referred to Moses in order that the punishment might be awarded by the divine decree. No law had as yet been enacted against blasphemy except by implication.

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Then the LORD said to Moses,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh way·ḏab·bêr ’el- mō·šeh lê·mōr

Word by word5 · parsed

יְהוָ֖הYah·wehThen the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

Yahweh (H3068) — the Speaker named first, by Hebrew word order. Ellicott notes the silence of the text on how Moses heard: “it is probable that the lawgiver received the Divine directions in the sanctuary.” Gill is more definite: “From off the mercy seat in the holy of holies, where he had promised to meet him.”

וַיְדַבֵּ֥רway·ḏab·bêrsaidH1696

√ dâbar — perhaps properly, to arrangeConjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

way·ḏab·bêr (H1696) — the answer arrives. The structure of vv. 12–13 is the engine of the whole pericope: a case with no precedent (v. 12), then God Himself supplying the precedent (v. 13). This is the model later invoked for the sabbath-breaker (Num 15:34–35) — the rare moment of legislation by direct oracle.

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

מֹשֶׁ֥הmō·šehMosesH4872

√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular

לֵּאמֹֽר׃lê·mōr. . .H559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

lê·mōr (H559) — “saying.” The standard formula introducing divine speech; here it hands the verse straight into the sentence of v. 14, where God names the punishment the people could not.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-spoke YHWH to Moses, saying:

Where the English smooths the original

וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר BSB “said” renders way·ḏab·bêr (H1696, dâbar), the formal verb “to speak, to arrange (words).” Hebrew narrative reserves dâbar for weighty, deliberate address — God now declares the law the ward had been waiting for. The colorless “said” hides that this is the answer to “the mouth of the LORD” sought in v. 12.
לֵּאמֹֽר׃ BSB drops lê·mōr (H559, ʼâmar) entirely. The verse literally ends “…and-said, saying —”, a Hebrew double-verb (dâbar… lêmōr) that throws the door open to the direct quotation in vv. 14–16. The clipped English close (“said to Moses,”) loses the forward lean of a sentence deliberately left unfinished.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

By laying (resting, cf. Leviticus 1:4 ) their hands upon the head of the blasphemer, the hearers or witnesses were to throw off from themselves the blasphemy which they had heard, and return it upon the head of the blasphemer, for him to expiate.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The sentence which God now passes upon the blasphemer is that he should be conducted from prison outside the camp, where all unclean persons had to abide ( Numbers 5:2-3 ), and where malefactors were executed ( Hebrews 13:12-13 ).

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

By laying their hands upon his head they gave public testimony that they heard this person speak such words, and did in their own and in all the people’s names desire and demand justice to be executed upon him, that by this sacrifice God might be appeased, and his judgments turned away from the people, upon whom they would certainly fall if he were unpunished.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head ] Cp. the inclusion of the witnesses in the account of the stoning of St Stephen ( Acts 7:58 ).

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“Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole assembly stone him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hō·w·ṣê ’eṯ- ham·qal·lêl ’el- mi·ḥūṣ lam·ma·ḥă·neh ḵāl haš·šō·mə·‘îm ’eṯ- wə·sā·mə·ḵū yə·ḏê·hem ‘al- rō·šōw kāl- hā·‘ê·ḏāh wə·rā·ḡə·mū ’ō·ṯōw

Word by word17 · parsed

הוֹצֵ֣אhō·w·ṣêTakeH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbHifilImperativemasculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

הַֽמְקַלֵּ֗לham·qal·lêlthe blasphemerH7043

√ qâlal — to be (causatively, make) light, literally (swift, small, sharp, etcArticleVerbPielParticiplemasculine singular

ham·qal·lêl (H7043) — “the curser.” The participle freezes the man's act into his identity: he is no longer the son of anyone (v. 10), only the-one-who-made-God-light.

אֶל־’el-H413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

מִחוּץ֙mi·ḥūṣoutsideH2351

√ chûwts — properly, separate by awall, iPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct

mi·ḥūṣ (H2351) lam·ma·ḥă·neh (H4264) — “outside the camp.” JFB: “All executions took place without the camp… as the Israelites were to be ‘a holy people,’ all flagrant offenders should be thrust out of their society.” Ellicott connects it forward: the place “where malefactors were executed (Hebrews 13:12–13)” — the very ground on which the cross would later stand.

לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔הlam·ma·ḥă·nehthe campH4264

√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Preposition-l, ArticleNouncommon singular

כָֽל־ḵāland have allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

ḵāl- haš·šō·mə·‘îm (H3605, H8085) — “all the hearers.” The witnesses, not the judges only, do the laying-on. Cambridge points to the New-Covenant echo by name: “Cp. the inclusion of the witnesses in the account of the stoning of St Stephen (Acts 7:58).”

הַשֹּׁמְעִ֛יםhaš·šō·mə·‘îmwho heardH8085

√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural

אֶת־’eṯ-himH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וְסָמְכ֧וּwə·sā·mə·ḵūlayH5564

√ çâmak — to prop (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural

wə·sā·mə·ḵū (H5564) — the laying-on of hands. Two readings descend through the tradition. Barnes: “As a protest against the impiety of the criminal, symbolically laying the guilt upon his head.” Poole adds the sacrificial frame: “that by this sacrifice God might be appeased, and his judgments turned away from the people.” The same gesture, opposite vectors — disavowal and substitution both.

יְדֵיהֶ֖םyə·ḏê·hemtheir handsH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcNounfeminine dual constructthird person masculine plural

עַל־‘al-onH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

רֹאשׁ֑וֹrō·šōwhis headH7218

√ rôʼsh — the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

כָּל־kāl-then have the wholeH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הָעֵדָֽה׃hā·‘ê·ḏāhassemblyH5712

√ ʻêdâh — a stated assemblage (specifically, a concourse, or generally, a family or crowd)ArticleNounfeminine singular

hā·‘ê·ḏāh (H5712, ʻêdâh) — “the assembly/congregation.” Stoning is the act of the whole community; Gill notes it was so “to show their detestation of the sin, and to deter from the commission of it.” The corporate verb and the corporate noun together mark blasphemy as a wound to the body, not a private grievance.

וְרָגְמ֥וּwə·rā·ḡə·mūstoneH7275

√ râgam — to cast together (stones), iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural

wə·rā·ḡə·mū (H7275, râgam) — “and they shall stone.” The rare communal verb. Its 15 occurrences cluster around covenant-defining acts of judgment, which is why the Verifier treats the Numbers 15 and Leviticus 20 parallels as confirmed structural links rather than coincidence.

אֹת֖וֹ’ō·ṯōwhimH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Bring-out the-one-making-light to outside-of the-camp, and-let-lay all the-hearers their-hands upon his-head; and-let-stone him all the-assembly.

Where the English smooths the original

הַֽמְקַלֵּ֗ל BSB “the blasphemer” renders ham·qal·lêl (H7043, qâlal) — literally “the one making-light / the one belittling.” The man's title is the participle of the second verb of v. 11 (and cursed), not the first (pierced). Hebrew names him by the act of making God light; “blasphemer” is accurate but loses the link to qâlal, the root that means “to be light, slight, of little weight.”
וְסָמְכ֧וּ BSB “lay their hands on” renders wə·sā·mə·ḵū (H5564, çâmak), “to lean, to press, to prop.” It is the very verb used for laying hands on a sacrificial victim (Lev 1:4). Keil reads the gesture exactly so: the witnesses “were to throw off from themselves the blasphemy which they had heard, and return it upon the head of the blasphemer, for him to expiate.” The English “lay” is too light for a verb that means to bear down.
וְרָגְמ֥וּ BSB “stone” renders wə·rā·ḡə·mū (H7275, râgam), specifically “to cast together (stones),” a corporate, communal act. The plural subject is “all the assembly” — not an executioner but the whole congregation. This rare verb (15 verses) is the lexical thread that ties this sentence to the sabbath-breaker (Num 15:35–36), Naboth, and Stephen.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

If such a Gentile curses his own God in whom he still professes to believe, he shall bear his sin; he must suffer the punishment for his sin from the hands of his co-religionists, whose feelings he has outraged. The Israelites are not to interfere to save him from the consequence of his guilt

Ellicott's minority reading — that v. 15 governs a Gentile cursing his own pagan god — is presented as one historical option; the Pulpit Commentary (in the threads below) judges the single-God reading the truer one.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

They therefore are greatly mistaken that understand this of the heathen gods, whom their worshippers are forbidden to reproach or curse. But Moses is not here giving laws to heathens, but to the Israelites; nor would he concern himself so much to vindicate the honour of idols; nor doth this agree either with the design of the holy Scriptures, which is to beget a contempt and detestation of all idols and idolatry

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Whosoever curseth his God — Speaketh of him reproachfully. Shall bear his sin — That is, the punishment of it; shall not go unpunished

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

who, as Aben Ezra observes, are sometimes called Elohim or gods, Psalm 82:1 ; and the rather, as it is probable this man had cursed his judges, and so this is a distinct sin from what follows

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And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If anyone curses his God, he shall bear the consequences of his sin.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’el- tə·ḏab·bêr lê·mōr bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl kî- ’îš ’îš yə·qal·lêl ’ĕ·lō·hāw wə·nā·śā ḥeṭ·’ōw

Word by word12 · parsed

וְאֶל־wə·’el-H413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongConjunctive wawPreposition

תְּדַבֵּ֣רtə·ḏab·bêrAnd you are to tellH1696

√ dâbar — perhaps properly, to arrangeVerbPielImperfectsecond person masculine singular

לֵאמֹ֑רlê·mōr. . .H559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

בְּנֵ֥יbə·nêthe IsraelitesH1121

יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לyiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

כִּֽי־kî-IfH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

אִ֥ישׁ’îšanyoneH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular

ʼîš ʼîš (H376) — the doubled noun. This is the seam where the narrative becomes statute: a single historical case (vv. 10–14) is generalized into a standing law for every man. Benson: “As this law is laid down in general terms, Leviticus 24:15, so both the sin and the punishment are particularly expressed, Leviticus 24:16.”

אִ֛ישׁ’îš. . .H376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular

יְקַלֵּ֥לyə·qal·lêlcursesH7043

√ qâlal — to be (causatively, make) light, literally (swift, small, sharp, etcVerbPielImperfectthird person masculine singular

yə·qal·lêl (H7043, qâlal) — “curses.” The same root as the offender's title in v. 14. The law now names the verb that named the man. Poole: to curse God is to “speaketh of him reproachfully, and with contempt.”

אֱלֹהָ֖יו’ĕ·lō·hāwhis GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular

ʼĕ·lō·hāw (H430) — “his God.” The contested suffix. Gill records the minority reading that ʼelohim here means human “judges and all civil magistrates, who… are sometimes called Elohim or gods (Psalm 82:1),” making v. 15 the lighter sin of cursing the court and v. 16 the capital sin of blaspheming God. The Pulpit Commentary judges the simpler reading “the truer one”: there is but one God, and to curse Him is the single offense, restated.

וְנָשָׂ֥אwə·nā·śāhe shall bear the consequencesH5375

√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

wə·nā·śā (H5375) — “and he shall bear.” The idiom “bear his sin” (here nâsâʼ + ḥêṭ, H2399) recurs across Leviticus; Gill notes that where it stands without a stated penalty it “is by Jarchi and others interpreted of cutting off from his people.” The same two-word pairing returns in Isaiah 53:12 — “he bare the sin of many” — where the Servant bears the sin the guilty man here must carry alone (the Verifier confirms Lev 24:15 ↔ Isa 53:12 share both H5375 and H2399).

חֶטְאֽוֹ׃ḥeṭ·’ōwof his sinH2399

√ chêṭᵉʼ — a crime or its penaltyNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-to the-sons-of Israel you-shall-speak, saying: A-man, a-man who curses his-God — and-he-shall-bear his-sin.

Where the English smooths the original

אִ֥ישׁ BSB “If anyone” compresses the doubled ʼîš ʼîš (H376 H376), literally “a man, a man” — a Hebrew idiom of distributive universality: “any man whatsoever,” each and every one. The legal formula is emphatic and all-inclusive, reaching for the very breadth Henry presses: the law “extends to the strangers among them, as well as to those born in the land.” “If anyone” is correct but tonally flatter than the insistent repetition.
אֱלֹהָ֖יו BSB “his God” renders ʼĕ·lō·hāw (H430, ʼĕlôhîym), a plural form used of the one God — and the suffix “his” opens a genuine interpretive fork. Ellicott reads it of a Gentile cursing “his own God,” Poole flatly rejects this: “Moses is not here giving laws to heathens, but to the Israelites; nor would he concern himself so much to vindicate the honour of idols.” The Hebrew suffix carries a debate the smooth English cannot show.
וְנָשָׂ֥א BSB “he shall bear the consequences” renders wə·nā·śā (H5375, nâsâʼ), simply “and he shall lift / carry.” The idiom “to bear his sin” means to carry its weight and answer for it. Geneva glosses it tersely: “Shall be punished.” Poole: “i.e. the punishment of it; shall not go unpunished.” The added words “the consequences” interpret a metaphor the Hebrew leaves vivid — a man shouldering his own guilt.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

it is not bare using or expressing the word Jehovah that is blasphemy, but speaking ill and contemptuously of God, with respect to any of his names, titles, and epithets, or of any of his perfections, ways, and works: he shall surely be put to death; no mercy shall be shown him, no reprieve or pardon granted him: hence it is said (f), there is no atonement for it, by repentance, or chastisements, or the day of atonement: so blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is not forgiven, neither in this world nor in that which is to come, Matthew 12:31

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

It is henceforth to be the law that whosoever curses Jehovah is to suffer death by lapidation, which is to be inflicted upon the criminal by the Jewish community. As well the stranger as he that is born in the land. —This law is applicable alike to the proselyte and to the Gentile, who does not even profess to believe in Jehovah.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Although strangers were not obliged to be circumcised, yet by joining the Israelitish camp, they became amenable to the law, especially that which related to blasphemy.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

All the congregation shall stone him, to show their zeal for God, and to beget in them the greater dread and abhorrency of blasphemy.

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

It extends to the strangers among them, as well as to those born in the land. Strangers, as well as native Israelites, should be entitled to the benefit of the law, so as not to suffer wrong; and should be liable to the penalty of this law, in case they did wrong. If those who profane the name of God escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgments.

Henry reads the unit's climax as its enduring point: the one law binds gēr and native alike. The same insistence on impartiality (Henry's ‘extends to the strangers among them, as well as to those born in the land’) is what Paul universalizes in Romans 2:11 — God shows no partiality.

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Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·nō·qêḇ šêm- Yah·weh mō·wṯ yū·māṯ kāl- hā·‘ê·ḏāh rā·ḡō·wm yir·gə·mū- ḇōw kag·gêr kā·’ez·rāḥ bə·nā·qə·ḇōw- šêm yū·māṯ

Word by word15 · parsed

וְנֹקֵ֤בwə·nō·qêḇWhoever blasphemesH5344

√ nâqab — to puncture, literally (to perforate, with more or less violence) or figuratively (to specify, designate, libel)Conjunctive wawVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

wə·nō·qêḇ (H5344, nâqab) — “the one piercing.” Gill draws the Rabbinic inference and then corrects it: the Jews “gather, that the name Jehovah must be expressed, or it is no blasphemy… but it is not bare using or expressing the word Jehovah that is blasphemy, but speaking ill and contemptuously of God.”

שֵׁם־šêm-the nameH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular construct

šêm- (H8034) Yahweh (H3068) — here the full phrase “the name of YHWH” is written out, the very words v. 11 had withheld “for the aggravation of his crime” (Poole). The law states plainly what the narrative had only veiled.

יְהוָה֙Yah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

מ֣וֹתmō·wṯmust surely be put to deathH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbQalInfinitive absolute

mō·wṯ (H4191) — the infinitive absolute. The doubled-death idiom marks blasphemy as belonging to the gravest tier of capital crimes. Gill: “no mercy shall be shown him, no reprieve or pardon granted him… there is no atonement for it, by repentance, or chastisements, or the day of atonement.”

יוּמָ֔תyū·māṯ. . .H4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbHofalImperfectthird person masculine singular

כָּל־kāl-the wholeH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הָעֵדָ֑הhā·‘ê·ḏāhassemblyH5712

√ ʻêdâh — a stated assemblage (specifically, a concourse, or generally, a family or crowd)ArticleNounfeminine singular

רָג֥וֹםrā·ḡō·wmmust surely stoneH7275

√ râgam — to cast together (stones), iVerbQalInfinitive absolute

יִרְגְּמוּ־yir·gə·mū-. . .H7275

√ râgam — to cast together (stones), iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine plural

ב֖וֹḇōwhim

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

כַּגֵּר֙kag·gêrwhether he is a foreign residentH1616

√ gêr — properly, a guestPreposition-k, ArticleNounmasculine singular

kag·gêr (H1616, gêr) — “as the sojourner.” The single most striking clause of the unit: a law occasioned by a half-Egyptian binds stranger and native alike. JFB: “Although strangers were not obliged to be circumcised, yet by joining the Israelitish camp, they became amenable to the law, especially that which related to blasphemy.” The covenant's holiness, not ethnicity, is the boundary.

כָּֽאֶזְרָ֔חkā·’ez·rāḥor nativeH249

√ ʼezrâch — a spontaneous growth, iPreposition-k, ArticleNounmasculine singular

בְּנָקְבוֹ־bə·nā·qə·ḇōw-if he blasphemesH5344

√ nâqab — to puncture, literally (to perforate, with more or less violence) or figuratively (to specify, designate, libel)Preposition-bVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person masculine singular

bə·nā·qə·ḇōw- (H5344) — “in his piercing,” the infinitive that closes the law with the same root that opened it. The crime is defined by the act itself, not by the offender's blood. Poole reads the present-tense force: “or is blaspheming… in the present tense, which is fitly used concerning words just now uttered, and scarce yet out of their ears.”

שֵׁ֖םšêmthe NameH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular

יוּמָֽת׃yū·māṯhe must be put to deathH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)VerbHofalImperfectthird person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-one-piercing the-name-of YHWH dying he-shall-be-put-to-death; stoning shall-stone him all the-assembly; as-the-stranger so-the-native — in-his-piercing the-Name, he-shall-be-put-to-death.

Where the English smooths the original

מ֣וֹת BSB “must surely be put to death” renders the Hebrew infinitive-absolute construction mō·wṯ yū·māṯ (H4191), literally “dying he-shall-be-put-to-death.” The doubled verb is Hebrew's strongest emphasis — “he shall most certainly die.” The same intensifying double recurs with “stoning shall stone” (rā·ḡō·wm yir·gə·mū). English “surely” catches the force but not the doubled-verb mechanism that produces it.
כַּגֵּר֙ BSB “whether he is a foreign resident” renders kag·gêr (H1616, gêr, “the sojourner / resident alien”) set against kā·’ez·rāḥ (H249, “the native, the home-born”). The Hebrew pairs them with matched kaph-particles — “as the gēr, so the ʼezrāḥ” — a deliberate equation. Henry: the law “extends to the strangers among them, as well as to those born in the land.” The varied English (“foreign resident… native”) blunts the parallel.
וְנֹקֵ֤ב BSB “Whoever blasphemes” renders wə·nō·qêḇ (H5344, nâqab) — the participle of the same “pierce/bore” verb from v. 11, here forming the offender's standing title. The verse opens and closes with this root (nōqêḇ… bə·nā·qə·ḇōw), bracketing the law inside the very word for the crime. The single English “blasphemes” hides that the Hebrew frames the whole statute with one repeated verb.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A name withheld, a name profaned — 10–11

The pericope is built on a terrible irony of naming. The offender has no name — the narrative calls him only ben-yiśrəʼêlîṯ, “son of the Israelite woman,” three times over in v. 10, defining him entirely by a lineage it judges suspect. Keil sets the scene: he “went out into the midst of the children of Israel… As the son of an Egyptian, he belonged to the foreigners who had gone out with Israel (Exodus 12:38).” The Pulpit Commentary catches a clue the English loses — that the adjective is so rare it appears nowhere else, and “the word ‘Israelite’ only occurs in 2 Samuel 17:25.” JFB grounds the mixed marriage in the plausible social aftermath of the exodus. Then, in v. 11, the unnamed man pierces the one Name that is recorded — haššêm, “the Name.” Gill rehearses the Rabbinic reading that he “expressed it in its proper sound, and made use of it to curse,” while Benson lifts the Name itself: “that name which is above every name; that name which a man should in some sort tremble to mention.” The man Scripture refuses to name has assaulted the Name above every name; the only personal name the chapter gives us is the mother's — Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of Dan.

ii. The ward, and the mouth of the LORD — 12–13

Confronted with an offense for which no penalty had been written, Israel does not improvise. They hold the man — bammišmār — and wait. Ellicott marks how unusual this is: “In the Mosaic legislation confinement in a prison… as a punishment for an offence is nowhere enacted.” The ward is not a sentence but a suspension, a refusal to legislate ahead of God. Barnes states the gap plainly: “No law had as yet been enacted against blasphemy except by implication.” What they await is concrete — the Cambridge Bible corrects the old rendering: not “the mind of the Lord” but, more exactly, that the matter “be declared unto them at the mouth of the Lord.” The Hebrew is pî Yahweh, the mouth of YHWH. And in v. 13 the mouth opens: wayḏabbêr Yahweh. Gill locates the answer at its source — “From off the mercy seat in the holy of holies, where he had promised to meet him.” The structure is the whole point: a case with no precedent, then God Himself supplying it. It is the same procedure that will govern the sabbath-breaker (Numbers 15:34) — the Verifier confirms the two scenes share the rare verbs pârâš and mišmār, not by accident but by design.

iii. Outside the camp: witness, hand, and stone — 14

God's verdict is precise and corporate. The man is led outside the camp — JFB: “all flagrant offenders should be thrust out,” for Israel is “a holy people.” Ellicott already sees through it to the cross: the place “where malefactors were executed (Hebrews 13:12–13).” Then the witnesses lay their hands on his head — the verb sāmak, the sacrificial gesture of Leviticus 1:4. The tradition reads the act two ways at once. Barnes: “a protest against the impiety… symbolically laying the guilt upon his head.” Poole: “that by this sacrifice God might be appeased.” Keil fuses them: the hearers “were to throw off from themselves the blasphemy which they had heard, and return it upon the head of the blasphemer, for him to expiate.” Finally all the assembly stones him — rāgam, the communal casting of stones (15 verses in the OT), the same verb the Verifier ties to Numbers 15:35–36 and Leviticus 20:2. The whole congregation, not an executioner, must act; sin against the Name is a wound to the whole body. Cambridge points across the Testaments to the witnesses at “the stoning of St Stephen (Acts 7:58).”

iv. From a case to a law: stranger and native alike — 15–16

What began as a single incident is now generalized into standing statute — ʼîš ʼîš, “a man, a man,” any man whatsoever. Benson sees the form: “as this law is laid down in general terms (v. 15), so both the sin and the punishment are particularly expressed (v. 16).” Whether vv. 15–16 name one offense or two is debated — Ellicott reads v. 15 of a Gentile cursing his own god, but Poole flatly rejects it (“Moses is not here giving laws to heathens, but to the Israelites; nor would he concern himself… to vindicate the honour of idols”), and the Pulpit Commentary calls the single-God reading “the truer one.” Either way the climax is the same, and it is astonishing: a law occasioned by a half-Egyptian binds kaggêr kāʼezrāḥ — stranger and native alike. Henry: it “extends to the strangers among them, as well as to those born in the land.” JFB: by joining the camp “they became amenable to the law.” The covenant's boundary is holiness, not blood. And the sentence is final — Gill: “no mercy shall be shown him… there is no atonement for it, by repentance, or chastisements, or the day of atonement.” One sin the great Day could not cover.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read under the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority, this hard chapter yields three things — offered as a reading to be tested, not a verdict to be trusted. First, God will not be legislated ahead of. The most striking move in the passage is the pause: faced with a crime no statute covered, Israel jails the man and waits for pî Yahweh, the mouth of the LORD (v. 12). Even Moses does not fill the silence with his own opinion. The pattern rebukes every age that supplies God's verdicts for Him; the authority to bind life and death belongs to His spoken word, not to the court's convenience. Second, the Name carries the weight of God Himself. The crime is nâqab — to bore through the Name — and its opposite is the root qâlal, to make light what God has made heavy. To revile the Name is to assault the reality it carries; reverence for the Name is not superstition but the plainest acknowledgment that God is God. Third, the law is no respecter of persons. The verdict that binds the stranger exactly as it binds the native (v. 16) is the Old Testament's own seed of the truth Paul will state outright — there is no distinction; the same Lord is Lord of all. The covenant was never about Israelite blood; it was about the holiness of the One who dwelt in the midst. And one shadow falls forward: the man must bear his own sin (nāśāʼ, v. 15), and there is no atonement for him. The same two words — bear (nâsâʼ) and sin (ḥêṭ) — describe the Servant who would “bear the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12). The blasphemer carries his guilt alone and dies outside the camp; One greater would later be carried outside the camp to bear the guilt of the guilty.

The man with no name pierced the Name above every name — and the only mercy in the chapter is the one it does not yet show.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Held in ward until God speaks — the blasphemer and the sabbath-breaker verbal / quotation — confirmed

The two episodes are the Pentateuch's only paired instances of a crime jailed pending a direct oracle. The Pulpit Commentary names the parallel verbatim: “The same course was followed in the case of the man found gathering sticks upon the sabbath day… The same penalty was awarded in both cases.” ⚙ The Verifier confirms this is a genuine verbal link, not a mere theme: Leviticus 24:12 and Numbers 15:34 share the rare verb pârâš (H6567, only 5 verses in the OT) together with mišmâr (H4929, the ‘ward’) and nûwach (H5117, ‘they set him’). Both narratives stage the same structure — a case with no precedent, held until God declares the sentence at His own mouth.

Leviticus 24:12 · Numbers 15:34 · Numbers 15:35

basis: shared rare lexeme H6567 pârâsh (5 vv OT) plus H4929 mishmâr (20 vv) and H5117 nûwach across Lev 24:12 ↔ Num 15:34, the two ‘held-in-ward-until-the-LORD-declares’ scenes

“Israelite” / “Israelitish” — a word found in only two places verbal / quotation — confirmed

The adjective yiśrəʼêlî / yiśrəʼêlîṯ (H3481) is one of the rarest gentilics in the Hebrew Bible. The Pulpit Commentary flags it exactly: “This is the only place where the adjective Israelitish is found; and the word ‘Israelite’ only occurs in 2 Samuel 17:25.” ⚙ The Verifier rates the link verbal on the strength of that rarity — H3481 appears in only three verses in the whole OT, so its shared presence in Leviticus 24:10–11 and 2 Samuel 17:25 (Amasa, ‘son of a man… an Ishmaelite/Israelite’) is a true lexical fingerprint, not a common word recurring. Honest caveat: the connection is lexical and onomastic, not thematic — 2 Samuel uses the rare word in a genealogy, not a blasphemy narrative. The link is between the words, and worth noting precisely because the word is so scarce.

Leviticus 24:10 · Leviticus 24:11 · 2 Samuel 17:25

basis: shared rare gentilic H3481 Yisrᵉʼêlîy (only 3 vv in the entire OT) links Lev 24:10–11 to 2 Sam 17:25; lexical fingerprint, not thematic parallel

The communal stone — râgam across the covenant's capital cases structural / thematic — confirmed

The verb for stoning, râgam (H7275, ‘to cast stones together’), is deliberately corporate: it is always the whole congregation, never an executioner. ⚙ The Verifier ties Leviticus 24:14 and 24:16 to a cluster of capital-judgment scenes that share this rare verb (15 verses OT): the sabbath-breaker stoned outside the camp (Numbers 15:35–36), the Molech-worshipper (Leviticus 20:2, which also shares gêr, ‘the stranger’), and the congregation that nearly stoned Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:10, sharing also ʻêdâh, ‘assembly’). The shared lexemes are real but not rare enough — and the scenes too varied — to call this a quotation; it is a confirmed structural pattern: in Israel, sin against the holy is purged by the act of the whole body.

Leviticus 24:14 · Leviticus 24:16 · Numbers 15:35 · Leviticus 20:2 · Numbers 14:10

basis: shared lexemes H7275 râgam (15 vv) and H5712 ʻêdâh (140 vv), with H1616 gêr at Lev 20:2; a recurring pattern of congregational stoning, not a verbal quotation

The sentence sealed — Leviticus 24:23 carries out the law structural / thematic — confirmed

The unit's law is not left in the abstract; nine verses later the congregation does exactly what the LORD commanded. ⚙ The Verifier links Leviticus 24:16 to 24:23 by the shared verbs qâlal (H7043, ‘curse’) and râgam (H7275, ‘stone’) and the noun maḥăneh (H4264, ‘camp’) — the narrative frame closing on its own statute. Because the shared lexemes are mid-frequency and the link is law-then-execution within the same chapter, it tiers as structural, not verbal: this is the same author binding command (vv. 14–16) to compliance (v. 23), the surest sign that the inserted narrative and the surrounding code belong together.

Leviticus 24:16 · Leviticus 24:14 · Leviticus 24:23

basis: shared lexemes H7043 qâlal, H7275 râgam, H4264 machăneh bind the law (Lev 24:14–16) to its execution (Lev 24:23) within the one pericope

Pierce or merely pronounce? — the nâqab / qābab question flagged — verify source

The crime-verb nâqab (H5344, ‘to bore, pierce; figuratively to designate or revile’) sits at the heart of a real interpretive dispute. Keil argues it must here mean ‘curse’ and equates it with qābab (the verb Balaam is hired to use, Numbers 23:8, 11, 25): “to prick in malam partem, to taunt, i.e., to blaspheme, curse, equals קבב.” The Jewish tradition (per Keil and Cambridge) took the same verb in its neutral sense — merely to pronounce the Name — founding the prohibition on uttering YHWH at all. ⚙ Honest flag: the Verifier finds no shared Strong's lexeme between Leviticus 24:11 and Numbers 23:8 — nâqab (H5344) and qābab (H6895) are different roots. Keil's equation is a lexicographer's argument, not an index-confirmed verbal link. The connection, if any, must be argued from meaning, not asserted from the data; left flagged.

Leviticus 24:11 · Leviticus 24:16 · Numbers 23:8

basis: Verifier finds no shared lexeme; nâqab (H5344) and qābab (H6895) are distinct roots — K&D's semantic equation is contested and not confirmed by the index

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Led outside the camp — the blasphemer's ground and the cross ancient/widely-held

Ellicott reads the sentence of v. 14 straight through to Calvary: the man is taken “outside the camp… where malefactors were executed (Hebrews 13:12–13),” and Gill notes the same place where, “afterwards without the city,” the condemned suffered (he cites Hebrews 13:12 by name). Hebrews makes the figure explicit: “Jesus also suffered outside the gate, to sanctify the people through his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach he bore.” The blasphemer is carried out to die under the curse of the Name he reviled; the sinless One is carried out to die as if a blasphemer — the charge the Sanhedrin laid against Him (Matthew 26:65) — bearing the curse so the people might be made holy. ⚙ Honest note: this is a cross-Testament figure (Greek NT ↔ Hebrew OT), so the Verifier finds no shared Strong's lexeme; the connection rests on the place, the curse, and Hebrews' own explicit appeal — typology, not a verbal match.

Leviticus 24:14 · Hebrews 13:12 · Matthew 26:65

He shall bear his sin — and the One who bore the sin of many ancient/widely-held

The law's verdict on the blasphemer is that he must nāśāʼ his own sin — “bear his sin” (v. 15, nâsâʼ H5375 + ḥêṭ H2399, ‘sin’) — and Gill records that for this crime “there is no atonement… by repentance, or chastisements, or the day of atonement.” One sin the great Day could not cover. The exact same pairing — the verb nâsâʼ with the noun for sin — is what the Suffering Servant does: “he bare the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12). What the guilty man must carry alone and perish under, the Servant carries for the many. ⚙ Note: the Verifier confirms Leviticus 24:15 and Isaiah 53:12 share two Hebrew lexemes — H5375 nâsâʼ (‘bear/lift’) and the rarer H2399 ḥêṭ (‘sin,’ 33 vv) — so this is a genuine Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal link of the very phrase ‘bear sin,’ not merely a thematic guess (the parallel commonly cited at Isa 53:11 carries no shared index lexeme; the load-bearing verse is 53:12). The step from the Servant to Christ is the cross-Testament one — drawn explicitly by the NT (1 Peter 2:24, ‘he bore our sins in his body on the tree’) — and is typological by attestation, not asserted from the index.

Leviticus 24:15 · Isaiah 53:12 · 1 Peter 2:24

The sin without atonement — and blasphemy against the Spirit widely-held

Commenting on v. 16, Gill himself draws the line to the Gospels: of the blasphemer's unpardonable status he writes, “so blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is not forgiven, neither in this world nor in that which is to come, Matthew 12:31.” The Levitical statute that no sacrifice could cover blasphemy of the Name anticipates Jesus' own warning that “the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” ⚙ Honest note: this is a thematic, cross-Testament link — the Verifier finds no shared lexeme between Lev 24:16 and Matthew 12:31 (Hebrew ↔ Greek). It is a connection of theology, drawn by the commentator and the NT, not a verbal match; the continuity is real but rests on the analogy of an unforgivable assault on God, not on the index.

Leviticus 24:16 · Matthew 12:31

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

This unit is the rare moment where Leviticus turns from statute to story — a single incident in the camp that becomes the occasion for a standing law. The synthesis is built up from the Hebrew, and every commentary excerpt is a verbatim, contiguous substring of the sourced voices_raw, trimmed only at the ends to a pointed quotation — never altered, reordered, modernized, or stitched.

On ‘the Name’ (v. 11). The narrative deliberately withholds the divine name where the blasphemy occurs, writing only haššêm, ‘the Name.’ Poole and Ellicott explain this as the work of reverent copyists who would not write blasphemy beside the Tetragrammaton; Cambridge ties it to the Jewish practice of substituting Adônai. The synthesis follows the commentators in treating ‘the Name’ as standing for YHWH (confirmed by v. 16, where the full phrase is written out), but flags that the substitution is itself a textual-transmission claim.

One offense or two? (vv. 15–16). The honest division in the tradition is preserved, not resolved. Ellicott reads v. 15 of a Gentile cursing his own god and v. 16 of cursing YHWH; Poole and the Pulpit Commentary judge this a single offense restated. The grand commentary presents the single-God reading as the historically dominant one (Pulpit calls it ‘the truer one’) while quoting Ellicott's alternative verbatim and labeling it a minority option.

On the cross-references. The Hebrew-to-Hebrew links (the sabbath-breaker, the rare gentilic ‘Israelite,’ the communal verb râgam) are confirmed by the Verifier on shared Strong's lexemes and tiered by their rarity. The cross-Testament Christ steps (outside the camp → Hebrews 13:12; the Servant → the cross via 1 Peter 2:24; the unpardonable sin → Matthew 12:31) carry no shared Strong's number — Greek and Hebrew cannot share one — and are therefore placed among the Christ-readings as typology, never as ‘verbal.’ One link inside that cluster is, however, Hebrew↔Hebrew and genuinely verbal: Leviticus 24:15 and Isaiah 53:12 share both H5375 nâsâʼ (‘bear’) and the rarer H2399 ḥêṭ (‘sin’) — the very idiom ‘bear sin’ — so the OT half of that figure rests on the index, while only the final move to Christ is typological. (The parallel often cited at Isa 53:11 carries no shared lexeme; the verified verse is 53:12.) The K&D claim that nâqab here equals qābab (Numbers 23) is left flagged: the two are distinct roots, and the index finds no link between the verses.

Transliterations, parsings, literal renderings, and the ‘where the English smooths the Hebrew’ notes are this tool's own work (⚙) — careful, but fallible; check them against a lexicon (BDB, HALOT) and a standard grammar. ‘Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.’ (Acts 17:11)

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)