The Lampstand and the Holy Bread

24 The Lord said to Moses, ²“Command the people of Israel to bring to you pure oil from crushed olives. That oil is for the lamps. Those lamps must burn without stopping. ³Aaron will keep the light burning in the Meeting Tent* before the Lord from evening until morning. The light will be outside the curtain {that hangs} in front of the {Box of the} Agreement.* This law will continue forever. ⁴Aaron must always keep the lamps burning on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord. ⁵“Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves with it. Use 16 cups* of flour for each loaf. ⁶Put them in two rows on the golden table before the Lord. Six loaves will be in each row. ⁷Put pure frankincense* on each row. This will help the Lord remember the offering by fire to the Lord. ⁸Every Sabbath* day Aaron will put the bread in order before the Lord. This must be done forever. This Agreement with the people of Israel will continue forever. ⁹That bread will belong to Aaron and his sons. They will eat the bread in a holy place. Why? Because that bread is one of the offerings made by fire to the Lord. That bread is Aaron’s share forever.”

The Man Who Cursed God

¹⁰There was a son of an Israelite woman. His father was an Egyptian. This Israelite woman’s son was an Israelite. He was walking among the people of Israel, and he started fighting in camp. ¹¹The Israelite woman’s son began cursing and saying bad things about the Lord’s name. So the people brought this man to Moses. (The name of the man’s mother was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, from the family group of Dan.) ¹²The people held the man as a prisoner and waited for the Lord’s command to be made clear to them. ¹³Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁴“Bring the man who cursed to a place outside the camp. Then bring together all the people who heard him curse. Those people will put their hands on his head.* And then all the people must throw stones at him and kill him. ¹⁵You must tell the people of Israel: If a person curses his God, then he must be punished.* ¹⁶Any person who speaks against the name of the Lord must be put to death. All the people must stone him. Foreigners must be punished just like the person who was born in Israel. If a person curses the {Lord’s} name, then he must be put to death. ¹⁷“And if one person kills another person, he must be put to death. ¹⁸The person who kills an animal {that belongs to another person} must give another animal to take its place.* ¹⁹“And if a person causes an injury to his neighbor, then the same kind of injury must be given that person. ²⁰A broken bone for a broken bone; an eye for an eye; and a tooth for a tooth. The same kind of injury a person gives another person must be given that person. ²¹So if a person kills an animal, then that person must pay for the animal. But if a person kills another person, then he must be put to death. ²²“The law will be {fair}—it will be the same for foreigners and for people from your own country. Why? Because I am the Lord your God.” ²³Then Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and they brought the man who cursed to a place outside the camp. Then they killed him with stones. So the people of Israel did just what the Lord had commanded Moses.

Meeting Tent The Holy Tent (tabernacle) where the people of Israel went to meet with God. Agreement Literally, “Proof.” The flat stones with the Ten Commandments written on them. These were proof of the Agreement between God and the people of Israel. 16 cups Literally, “2/10 of an ephah.” frankincense Very special dried tree sap. Burned to make a sweet-smelling smoke, it was offered as a gift to God. Sabbath Saturday, a special day of rest and worship for Jews. put their hands on his head This shows that all those people were sharing in punishing the man. he must be punished Literally, “he must bear his sin.” give another animal to take its place Literally, “pay for it; life for life.”

A Time of Rest for the Land

25 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai. The Lord said, ²“Tell the people of Israel: You will enter the land that I am giving to you. At that time, you must let the land have a special time of rest. This will be a special time of rest to honor the Lord. ³You will plant {seed} in your field for six years. You will trim the plants in your grape fields for six years and bring in its fruits. ⁴But during the seventh year, you will let the land rest. This will be a special time of rest to honor the Lord. You must not plant seed in your field or trim the plants in your grape fields. ⁵You must not cut the crops that grow by themselves after your harvest. You must not gather the grapes from your vines that are not trimmed. The land will have a year of rest. ⁶“{The land will have a year of rest,} but you will still have enough food. There will be enough food for your men and women servants. There will be food for your hired workers and for the foreigners living in your country. ⁷And there will be enough food for your cows and other animals to eat.

Jubilee —The Year of Release

⁸“You will also count seven groups of seven years. This will be 49 years. During that time, there will be seven years of rest for the land. ⁹On the Day of Atonement,* you must blow a ram’s horn. That will be on the tenth day of the seventh month. You must blow the ram’s horn through the whole country. ¹⁰You will make the 50th year a special year. You will announce freedom for all the people living in your country. This time will be called ‘Jubilee.’* Each of you will go back to his own property.* And each of you will go back to his family. ¹¹The 50th year will be a special celebration* for you. Don’t plant seeds. Don’t harvest the crops that grow by themselves. Don’t gather grapes from the vines that are not trimmed. ¹²That year is Jubilee. It will be a holy time for you. You will eat the crops that come from the field. ¹³In the year of Jubilee, each person will go back to his own property. ¹⁴“Don’t cheat your neighbor when you sell your land to him. And don’t let him cheat you when you buy land from him. ¹⁵If you want to buy our neighbor’s land, then count the number of years since the last Jubilee, {and use that number to decide the right price}. Why? Because he is really only selling you the rights for harvesting crops {until the next Jubilee}. ¹⁶If there are many ears {before the next Jubilee}, then the price will be high. If the years are few, then the price will be lower. Why? Because your neighbor is really only selling a number of crops to you. {At the next Jubilee the land will again belong to his family.} ¹⁷You must not cheat each other. You must honor your God! I am the Lord your God! ¹⁸“Remember my laws and rules. Obey them! Then you will live safely in your country. ¹⁹And the land will produce good crops for you. Then you will have plenty of food and you will live safely on the land. ²⁰“But maybe you will say, ‘If we don’t plant seeds or gather our crops, we will not have anything to eat during the seventh year.’ ²¹{Don’t worry!} I will order my blessing to come to you during the sixth year. The land will continue growing crops for three years. ²²When you plant in the eighth year, you will still be eating things from the old crop. You will eat the old crop until the ninth year, when the crop {you planted in the eighth year} comes in.

Property Laws

²³“The land really belongs to me. So you can’t really sell it permanently. You are only foreigners and travelers living {on my land} with me. ²⁴People might sell their land, but the family will always get their land back. ²⁵A person in your country might become very poor. He might be so poor that he must sell his property. So his close relative must come and buy back the property for his relative. ²⁶A person might not have a close relative to buy back his land for him. But he might get enough money to buy back the land for himself. ²⁷Then he must count the years since the land was sold. {He must use that number to decide how much to pay for the land.} Then he must buy back the land. Then the land will be his property again. ²⁸But if this person can’t find enough money to get the land back for himself, then what he has sold will stay in the hands of the person who bought it until the year of Jubilee.* Then during that special celebration, the land will go back {to the first owner’s family}. So the property will again belong to the right family. ²⁹“If a person sells a home in a walled city, then he still has the right to get it back until a full year after he sold the house. His right to get the house back will continue one year. ³⁰But if {the owner does not} buy back the house before a full year is finished, then the house that is in the walled city will belong to the person who bought it, and to his descendants.* The house will not go back {to the first owner} at the time of Jubilee.* ³¹Towns without walls around them will be treated like open fields. So houses built in those small towns will go back to the first owners at the time of Jubilee. ³²“But about the cities of the Levites: The Levites can buy back their houses at any time in the cities that belong to them. ³³If a person buys a house from a Levite, that house in the Levites’ city will again belong to the Levites at the time of Jubilee.* Why? Because houses in Levite cities belong to people from the family group of Levi. The people of Israel gave those cities to the Levite people. ³⁴Also, the fields and pastures around the Levite cities can’t be sold. Those fields belong to the Levites forever.

Rules for Slave Owners

³⁵“Maybe a person from your own country* will become too poor to support himself. You must let him live with you like a visitor. ³⁶Don’t charge him any interest {on money you might loan to him}. Respect your God, and let your brother* live with you. ³⁷Don’t charge him interest on any money you lend him. And don’t try to make a profit from the food you sell him. ³⁸I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt to give the land of Canaan to you and to become your God. ³⁹“Maybe a person from your own country* will become so poor that he sells himself as a slave to you. You must not make him work like a slave. ⁴⁰He will be like a hired worker and a visitor with you until the year of Jubilee.* ⁴¹Then he can leave you. He can take his children and go back to his family. He can go back to the property of his ancestors.* ⁴²Why? Because they are my servants! I brought them out {of slavery} in Egypt. They must not become slaves {again}. ⁴³You must not be a cruel master to this person. You must respect your God. ⁴⁴“About your men and women slaves: You may get men and women slaves from the other nations around you. ⁴⁵Also, you may get children as slaves if they come from the families of the foreigners living in your land. Those children slaves will belong to you. ⁴⁶You may even pass these foreign slaves on to your children after you die so that they will belong to your children. They will be your slaves forever. You may make slaves of these foreigners. But you must not be a cruel master over your own brothers, the people of Israel. ⁴⁷“Maybe a foreigner or visitor among you will become rich. Maybe a person from your own country* will become poor, so that he sells himself as a slave to a foreigner living among you or to a member of a foreigner’s family. ⁴⁸That person will have the right to be bought back {and become free}. One of his brothers* can buy him back. ⁴⁹Or his uncle or his cousin can buy him back. Or one of his close relatives from his family can buy him back. Or if the person gets enough money, he can pay the money himself {and become free again}. ⁵⁰“How do you decide the price? You must count the years from the time he sold himself to the foreigner up to the next year of Jubilee.* Use that number to decide the price. Why? Because really the person only ‘hired’ him for a few years! ⁵¹If there are still many years {before the year of Jubilee}, then the person must give back a large part of the price. It all depends on the numbers of years. ⁵²If only a few years are left until the year of Jubilee, then the person must pay a small part of the original price. ⁵³But that person will live like a hired man with the foreigner every year. Don’t let the foreigner be a cruel master over that person. ⁵⁴“That person will become free, even if no one buys him back. At the year of Jubilee* he and his children will become free. ⁵⁵Why? Because the people of Israel are my servants. They are the servants that I brought out of {slavery in} Egypt. I am the Lord your God!

Day of Atonement Also called “Yom Kippur”—the most important Jewish holy day. On this day the high priest went into the Most Holy Place and did the ceremony that atoned (covered or erased) the sins of the people. Jubilee The word comes from the Hebrew word for the horn that was blown at this time. See Leviticus 25:9. own property In Israel, the land belonged to the family or family group. A person might sell his land, but at Jubilee that land again belonged to the family and family group that it was originally given to. special celebration Literally, “Jubilee.” descendants A person’s children and their future families. a person … country Literally, “one of your brothers.” your brother Or, “the person from your own country.” ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. One … brothers Or, “A person from his own country.”