Blasphemy, Talion, and Chiasmus 73 speech. The simple phrase, “You will have one judgment”, in v. 21 reminds the reader that the purpose of this chiastic speech is to provide a judgment for an offense, and it points back to v. 16 as that judgment. The double use of the intensive reflects the seriousness of the offense and the certitude of the judgment. Meanwhile, the direct repetition of the comparison clause recalls an immediate issue in this particular case. That issue is the matter of application: whether the law applies to non-Israelites living among them. The text answers with a resounding affirmative, but by directing the reader toward the inner core of the pericope, it bases that judgment on the core principle of talion, not on a pre-existing judgment used by the Israelites. The overall structure of the chiasmus places the talionic principle at the center, but it then proceeds from the principle outward in steps of ever- increasing import. One can recognize the logic of the arrangement by viewing (again) the chiasmus from the center and moving out. The layers ripple out from the talionic core, moving from permanent injury (“blemish”) to death of an animal to death of a human. The progression is from less serious offense (at the center) to more serious offense. The placement of “life for life” (v. 18) away from the central three examples of talion (v. 20a) supports this understanding of the pericope’s progression, and the triple iteration of the talion principle at the middle of the chiasmus affirms it. The core principle is equitable reciprocity. It is helpful to recognize how the presentation of talion in this passage is different from the presentation in the two other passages that delineate the talion principle (Exod 21,23-25; Deut 19,21). Those passages begin with “life for life” and proceed to “eye for eye” and “tooth for tooth”, and then they continue in a descending order on the body, and from body parts that are lost to those that are only scarred. The sequence of three clauses at the fulcrum of the present passage (Lev 24,20a) breaks from this sequence and mentions only bodily injuries. The core principle is “injury for injury”, repeated three times. This allows the three clauses to function together as the fulcrum of the chiasmus and the starting-point for applying the talion principle. One moves from the basic principle to its application in more serious offenses, first with matters of life, and then on to the matter of blasphemy of the Divine Name. * ** Welch identifies six ways in which the chiastic form of this passage enhances the deeper message it intends to convey: (1) it gives a sense of completion to the story, (2) it emphasizes the importance of obedience to a divine command, (3) it promotes the internalization of the command by placing it within a real-life event, (4) it provides a helpful mnemonic device, (5) it “enhance[s] the moral imperative” of the judgment, and (6) it reinforces the impression that God’s decision here is fair and just. The recognition that the organizing principle of the chiasmus is from the center outward reinforces this last observation, because it reveals that the ideational progression of the pericope is from lesser offense (at the center) to greater offense. The chiastic center of the divine directive is the triple talion statement concerning injury. The seriousness of the offenses increases as one moves out from that center, from injury to the killing of an animal to the killing of a human. Cursing God