What Does Leviticus 24:16 Mean in the King James?
And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse makes speech against the LORD’s name a communal act of killing, because the name carries the nature of the one named.
THE MEANING
A person who blasphemes the LORD’s name is put to death by the whole congregation’s stoning. The sentence applies equally to the resident stranger and the native-born, making the community itself the agent of the killing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that a resident stranger stands outside the community’s sacred law: the same death sentence applies to stranger and native-born.
THE ROOT
נֹקֵב
nōqēv
GROWS FROM
נקב
To pierce or bore; also to designate explicitly by name.
The verb translated “blasphemeth” is nāqab, whose range includes piercing and designating explicitly by name. Alongside שֵׁם (shem, name understood as nature), it presents the offense as a pointed verbal assault on the LORD’s identity; the verse’s answer is public stoning and death.
ALSO GROWS
nāqab: To pierce or bore.
נָקַב
This physical sense supplies an image of a puncturing act; the verse’s stated penalty remains bodily death.
nāqab: To designate or express explicitly by name.
נָקַב
Numbers 1:17 uses this root for people “expressed by name”; here the verb directly takes “name” as its object.
גֵּר
gēr
GROWS FROM
גור
To dwell or sojourn as a resident alien.
The word translated “stranger” is gēr, a resident sojourner rather than someone entirely outside the land. Its inclusion beside the native-born makes the judgment reach across belonging: both are named within the same community and under the same sentence.
ALSO GROWS
lāgūr: To dwell or sojourn as a resident alien.
לָגוּר
This verbal form shows that the “stranger” is someone living among the people, not simply passing through.
megūrīm: Sojournings or places of residence.
מְגוּרִים
The related noun carries the sense of dwelling; the verse’s stranger belongs to the shared social space where the sentence is enforced.
THE PATTERN
Speech and conduct around the divine name carry public consequences beyond the speaker.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.THE THREAD
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.Both verses use שֵׁם (shem, name understood as nature): Exodus presents the LORD’s name as an enduring memorial, while Leviticus places a lethal boundary around it. Together they show that the offense is framed as an attack on the one represented by the name, not merely on a spoken label.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us