Olive Oil and Bread Set Before the Lord

24:1–3pp—Ex 27:20–21

24 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. 3 Outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinanceq for the generations to come. 4 The lamps on the pure gold lampstandr before the Lord must be tended continually.

5 “Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread,s using two-tenths of an ephaha t for each loaf. 6 Arrange them in two stacks, six in each stack, on the table of pure goldu before the Lord. 7 By each stack put some pure incensev as a memorialb portionw to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the Lord. 8 This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly,x Sabbath after Sabbath,y on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons,z who are to eat it in the sanctuary area,a because it is a most holyb part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the Lord.”

A Blasphemer Put to Death

10 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Namec with a curse;d so they brought him to Moses.e (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.)f 12 They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.g

13 Then the Lord said to Moses: 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him.h 15 Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their Godi will be held responsible;j 16 anyone who blasphemesk the name of the Lord is to be put to death.l The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.

17 “ ‘Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death.m 18 Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitutionn—life for life. 19 Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.o The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution,p but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death.q 22 You are to have the same law for the foreignerr and the native-born.s I am the Lord your God.’ ”

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

The Sabbath Year

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

The Year of Jubilee

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

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

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

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

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

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

25 “ ‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relativee is to come and redeemf what they have sold. 26 If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosperg and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, 27 they are to determine the value for the yearsh since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property.i 28 But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returnedj in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.k

29 “ ‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31 But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.

32 “ ‘The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns,l which they possess. 33 So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. 34 But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.m

35 “ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poorn and are unable to support themselves among you, help themo as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. 36 Do not take interestp or any profit from them, but fear your God,q so that they may continue to live among you. 37 You must not lend them money at interestr or sell them food at a profit. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaans and to be your God.t

39 “ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves.u 40 They are to be treated as hired workersv or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the propertyw of their ancestors.x 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt,y they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly,z but fear your God.a

44 “ ‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

47 “ ‘If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselvesb to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner’s clan, 48 they retain the right of redemptionc after they have sold themselves. One of their relativesd may redeem them: 49 An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in their clan may redeem them. Or if they prosper,e they may redeem themselves. 50 They and their buyer are to count the time from the year they sold themselves up to the Year of Jubilee.f The price for their release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired workerg for that number of years. 51 If many years remain, they must pay for their redemption a larger share of the price paid for them. 52 If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they are to compute that and pay for their redemption accordingly.h 53 They are to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those to whom they owe service do not rule over them ruthlessly.i

54 “ ‘Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, 55 for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt.j I am the Lord your God.k

Reward for Obedience

26 “ ‘Do not make idolsl or set up an imagem or a sacred stonen for yourselves, and do not place a carved stoneo in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

2 “ ‘Observe my Sabbathsp and have reverence for my sanctuary.q I am the Lord.

3 “ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obeyr my commands, 4 I will send you rains in its season,t and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.u 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you wantv and live in safety in your land.w

6 “ ‘I will grant peace in the land,x and you will lie downy and no one will make you afraid.z I will remove wild beastsa from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies,b and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Fivec of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.d

9 “ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers,e and I will keep my covenantf with you. 10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.g 11 I will put my dwelling placea h among you, and I will not abhor you.i 12 I will walkj among you and be your God,k and you will be my people.l 13 I am the Lord your God,m who brought you out of Egyptn so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yokeo and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Punishment for Disobedience

14 “ ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,p 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my lawsq and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,r 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fevers that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.t You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.u 17 I will set my facev against you so that you will be defeatedw by your enemies;x those who hate you will rule over you,y and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.z

18 “ ‘If after all this you will not listen to me,a I will punishb you for your sins seven times over.c 19 I will break down your stubborn prided and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.e 20 Your strength will be spent in vain,f because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.g

21 “ ‘If you remain hostileh toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over,i as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animalsj against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so fewk in number that your roads will be deserted.l

23 “ ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correctionm but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostilen toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the swordo on you to avengep the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plagueq among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread,r ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

27 “ ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to mes but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my angert I will be hostileu toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.v 29 You will eatw the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.x 30 I will destroy your high places,y cut down your incense altarsz and pile your dead bodiesb on the lifeless forms of your idols,a and I will abhorb you. 31 I will turn your cities into ruinsc and lay wasted your sanctuaries,e and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.f 32 I myself will lay waste the land,g so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.h 33 I will scatteri you among the nationsj and will draw out my swordk and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,l and your cities will lie in ruins.m 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolaten and you are in the country of your enemies;o then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the restp it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

36 “ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leafq will put them to flight.r They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.s 37 They will stumble over one anothert as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.u 38 You will perishv among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.w 39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’x sins they will waste away.y

40 “ ‘But if they will confessz their sinsa and the sins of their ancestorsb—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostilec toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised heartsd are humblede and they payf for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacobg and my covenant with Isaach and my covenant with Abraham,i and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be desertedj by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejectedk my laws and abhorred my decrees.l 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies,m I will not reject them or abhorn them so as to destroy them completely,o breaking my covenantp with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will rememberq the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egyptr in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’ ”

46 These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinais between himself and the Israelites through Moses.t