15 Say to the Israelites: 'Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible;
15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.
15 And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.
15 Then tell the Israelites, Anyone who curses God will be held accountable;
15 Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.
15 Say to the people of Israel: Those who curse their God will be punished for their sin.
31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.' "
31 Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
31 The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity."
31 The husband will be cleared of wrong, but the woman will pay for her wrong."
31 Then the man shall be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear her guilt.' "
31 The husband will be innocent of any guilt in this matter, but his wife will be held accountable for her sin."
(Read Numbers 5:11-31)
This law would make the women of Israel watch against giving cause for suspicion. On the other hand, it would hinder the cruel treatment such suspicions might occasion. It would also hinder the guilty from escaping, and the innocent from coming under just suspicion. When no proof could be brought, the wife was called on to make this solemn appeal to a heart-searching God. No woman, if she were guilty, could say "Amen" to the adjuration, and drink the water after it, unless she disbelieved the truth of God, or defied his justice. The water is called the bitter water, because it caused the curse. Thus sin is called an evil and a bitter thing. Let all that meddle with forbidden pleasures, know that they will be bitterness in the latter end. From the whole learn, 1. Secret sins are known to God, and sometimes are strangely brought to light in this life; and that there is a day coming when God will, by Christ, judge the secrets of men according to the gospel, Romans 2:16. 2 In particular, Whoremongers and adulterers God will surely judge. Though we have not now the waters of jealousy, yet we have God's word, which ought to be as great a terror. Sensual lusts will end in bitterness. 3. God will manifest the innocency of the innocent. The same providence is for good to some, and for hurt to others. And it will answer the purposes which God intends.
34 For forty years-one year for each of the forty days you explored the land-you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.'
34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.'
34 You scouted out the land for forty days; your punishment will be a year for each day, a forty-year sentence to serve for your sins - a long schooling in my displeasure.
34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.
34 "'Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years-a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.'
(Read Numbers 14:20-35)
The Lord granted the prayer of Moses so far as not at once to destroy the congregation. But disbelief of the promise forbids the benefit. Those who despise the pleasant land shall be shut out of it. The promise of God should be fulfilled to their children. They wished to die in the wilderness; God made their sin their ruin, took them at their word, and their carcases fell in the wilderness. They were made to groan under the burden of their own sin, which was too heavy for them to bear. Ye shall know my breach of promise, both the causes of it, that it is procured by your sin, for God never leaves any till they first leave him; and the consequences of it, that will produce your ruin. But your little ones, now under twenty years old, which ye, in your unbelief, said should be a prey, them will I bring in. God will let them know that he can put a difference between the guilty and the innocent, and cut them off without touching their children. Thus God would not utterly take away his loving kindness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Leviticus 24:15
Commentary on Leviticus 24:10-23
(Read Leviticus 24:10-23)
This offender was the son of an Egyptian father, and an Israelitish mother. The notice of his parents shows the common ill effect of mixed marriages. A standing law for the stoning of blasphemers was made upon this occasion. Great stress is laid upon this law. 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. What enmity against God must be in the heart of man, when blasphemies against God proceed out of his mouth. If he that despised Moses' law, died without mercy, of what punishment will they be worthy, who despise and abuse the gospel of the Son of God! Let us watch against anger, do no evil, avoid all connexions with wicked people, and reverence that holy name which sinners blaspheme.