Leviticus 24:20

eye for eye: This legal principle is often called lex talionis (which means “law of retaliation”). This means the punishment should match the crime. When an injured person sought revenge for their family member, excessive revenge often occurred instead of proper justice (see Numbers 35:19–21). This led to even more retaliation, creating a cycle of increasing violence. Lex talionis helped regulate how to prosecute crimes (see also Leviticus 6:2–7; compare Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21; Matthew 5:28–39).

A large group of non-Israelites, including other Semitic people and Egyptians, left Egypt with the Israelites (Exodus 12:38). Among them was a man with an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father. A fight broke out between this man and a full-blooded Israelite. the man who was half-Egyptian verbally cursed the Israelite, using the name of God in a disrespectful manner.