Exodus 22:28

22:28 “You must not blaspheme ¹  God ²  or curse the ruler of your people.

Leviticus 24:15

24:15 Moreover, ³  you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If any man curses his God ⁴  he will bear responsibility for his sin,

Matthew 26:59-66

26:59 The ⁵  chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 26:60 But they did not find anything, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally ⁶  two came forward 26:61 and declared, “This man ⁷  said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” 26:62 So ⁸  the high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?” 26:63 But Jesus was silent. The ⁹  high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, ¹⁰  the Son of God.” 26:64 Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand ¹¹  of the Power ¹²  and coming on the clouds of heaven.” ¹³  26:65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and declared, ¹⁴  “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Now ¹⁵  you have heard the blasphemy! 26:66 What is your verdict?” ¹⁶  They ¹⁷  answered, “He is guilty and deserves ¹⁸  death.”

John 10:33

10:33 The Jewish leaders ¹⁹  replied, ²⁰  “We are not going to stone you for a good deed ²¹  but for blasphemy, ²²  because ²³  you, a man, are claiming to be God.” ²⁴ 

Acts 6:13

6:13 They brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop saying things against this holy place ²⁵  and the law. ²⁶ 

¹ tn The two verbs in this verse are synonyms: קָלַל (qalal) means “to treat lightly, curse,” and אָרַר (’arar) means “to curse.”

² tn The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is “gods” or “God.” If taken as the simple plural, it could refer to the human judges, as it has in the section of laws; this would match the parallelism in the verse. If it was taken to refer to God, then the idea of cursing God would be more along the line of blasphemy. B. Jacob says that the word refers to functioning judges, and that would indirectly mean God, for they represented the religious authority, and the prince the civil authority (Exodus, 708).

³ tn Heb “And.”

⁴ sn See the note on v. 11 above and esp. Exod 22:28 [27 HT].

⁵ tn Grk “Now the.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁷ tn Grk “This one.”

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the false testimony.

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

¹¹ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1. This is a claim that Jesus shares authority with God in heaven. Those present may have thought they were his judges, but, in fact, the reverse was true.

¹² sn The expression the right hand of the Power is a circumlocution for referring to God. Such indirect references to God were common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.

¹³ sn An allusion to Dan 7:13 (see also Matt 24:30).

¹⁴ tn Grk “the high priest tore his clothes, saying.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “Behold now.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

¹⁶ tn Grk “What do you think?”

¹⁷ tn Grk “answering, they said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁸ tn Grk “he is guilty of death.” L&N 88.313 states, “pertaining to being guilty and thus deserving some particular penalty – ‘guilty and deserving, guilty and punishable by.’ οἱ δὲ ἀποκριθέντες εἶπαν, ᾿Ενοχος θανάτου ἐστίν ‘they answered, He is guilty and deserves death’ Mt 26:66.”

¹⁹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here again the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders. See the notes on the phrase “Jewish people” in v. 19 and “Jewish leaders” in vv. 24, 31.

²⁰ tn Grk “answered him.”

²¹ tn Or “good work.”

²² sn This is the first time the official charge of blasphemy is voiced openly in the Fourth Gospel (although it was implicit in John 8:59).

²³ tn Grk “and because.”

²⁴ tn Grk “you, a man, make yourself to be God.”

²⁵ sn This holy place is a reference to the temple.

²⁶ sn The law refers to the law of Moses. It elaborates the nature of the blasphemy in v. 11. To speak against God’s law in Torah was to blaspheme God (Deut 28:15-19). On the Jewish view of false witnesses, see Exod 19:16-18; 20:16; m. Sanhedrin 3.6; 5.1-5. Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 may indicate why the temple was mentioned.