M. VII. 5. The blasphemer^ is not guilty until
he have expressly uttered the Name. According
to R. Jehoshua, the son of Karha, the witnesses
throughout are examined by means of pseudo-
nyms : ' for example " Jose strikes Jose." But
when the trial is over the sentence is not carried out
under a pseudonym : all are sent out of the room
except the chief witness, and it is said to him :
"Say expressly what you heard," He does so,
whereupon the judges stand up and rend their
clothes ; * and they may not mend them again.
The second witness then says, " I heard the same,"
and the third says, " I too heard the same."

8. The Idolater.
6. In a case of idolatry it is all one whether a
man worship, sacrifice, offer incense, or pour out

' The age at which males were regarded as nubile.
" See Lev. 24. 10 if. According to the Talmud (cf. Yoma ^gh),
the pronunciation of the Sacred Name was at one time known to
all; but "from the time that Simon the Just died" — the cus-
tomary expression for the beginning df the Hellenistic period —
it was gradually forgotten.
^ The witnesses who had heard the blasphemy might not repeat
the words, but made use of an arbitrary formula to describe the
crime.
* Cf. Mark 14. 63 ; Matt. 26. 65.
T. X.] BLASPHEMY AND IDOLATRY 99

libations ; or whether he bow himself down, accept M.
