Leviticus 19:18
in Leviticus 19Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am Jehovah.
KJV
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.
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This verse in Leviticus 19
Commentary
8 notes on this verseFor since it is written in the law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," he is proven to love his neighbor less who does not share with him even those things necessary to himself in his neighbor's time of need. Therefore the precept is given about dividing two tunics with one's neighbor, because this could not be said of one tunic, since if one is divided, no one is clothed. For with half a tunic, both he who receives remains naked and he who gave remains naked.
This site's exposition
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge
The words "love your neighbor as yourself" appear here first in Scripture, and no verse of Leviticus is quoted more in the New Testament. Jesus names it the second commandment at Matthew 22:39, and Paul and James cite it at Romans 13:9 and James 2:8.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Apostolic ConstitutionsApostolic Constitutions (Book II), Section 4, XXV · Written before 380.
proposed
Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him dispense in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in on account of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and strangers in distress, as having that God for the examiner of his accounts who has committed the disposition to him. Distribute to all those in want with righteousness, and yourselves use the things which belong to the Lord, but do not abuse them; eating of them, but not eating them all up by yourselves: communicate with those that are in want, and thereby show yourselves unblameable before God. For if you shall consume them by yourselves, you will be reproached by God, who says to such unsatiable people, who alone devour all, "You eat up the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool;" [Ezekiel 34:3] and in another passage, "Must you alone live upon the earth"? [Isaiah 5:8] Upon which account you are commanded in the law, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." [Leviticus 19:18] Now we say these things, not as if you might not partake of the fruits of your labours; for it is written, "You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox which treads out the grain;" [Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9] but that you should do it with moderation and righteousness. As, therefore, the ox that labours in the threshing-floor without a muzzle eats indeed, but does not eat all up; so do you who labour in the threshing-floor, that is, in the Church of God, eat of the Church: which was also the case of the Levites, who served in the tabernacle of the testimony, which was in all things a type of the Church.
Long before Christ it had been said, "You shall not covet"; long before it had been said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," a phrase which, as the apostle says, expresses the fulfillment of the whole law. And as no one loves himself unless he loves God, the Lord says that the whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thou shalt not avenge,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself--The word "neighbour" is used as synonymous with "fellow creature." The Israelites in a later age restricted its meaning as applicable only to their own countrymen. This narrow interpretation was refuted by our Lord in a beautiful parable (Lu 10:30-37).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
GK ChestertonHeretics, Ch. 14: On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family (1905) (1905)
proposed
We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbour. Hence he comes to us clad in all the careless terrors of nature; he is as strange as the stars, as reckless and indifferent as the rain. He is Man, the …
1 more voice on this verse
Modern Voices1 voice
In the feverish summer of this fanaticism there arose the phrase that this or that part of England is being "built over." Now, there is not the slightest objection, in itself, to England being built over by men, any more than there is to its …
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִקֹּ֤ם | tikom | you will avenge yourself | H5358 → | |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִטֹּר֙ | titor | you will keep | H5201 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] sons of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| עַמֶּ֔ךָ | ʾamekha | people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ | veahavta | and you will love | H157 → | |
| לְרֵעֲךָ֖ | lereakha | <to> neighbor your | H7453 → | 188 times |
| כָּמ֑וֹךָ | kamokha | like yourself | H3644 → | |
| אֲנִ֖י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | [am] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תִקֹּ֤םyou will avenge yourself
tikomH5358 →
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
תִטֹּר֙you will keep
titorH5201 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] sons of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
עַמֶּ֔ךָpeople your
ʾamekhaH5971 →1873 times
וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥and you will love
veahavtaH157 →
לְרֵעֲךָ֖<to> neighbor your
lereakhaH7453 →188 times
כָּמ֑וֹךָlike yourself
kamokhaH3644 →
אֲנִ֖יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָֽה׃[am] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 13:9The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
it leads to
- Mark 12:31
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 20:12–17
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- Matthew 22:39
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Deuteronomy 5:16–21
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the…
- Mark 12:31
Through
Galatians 5:14The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
it leads to
- Matthew 7:12
In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
- Galatians 6:2
Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
- Romans 13:8–10
Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- Matthew 7:12
Where this verse is studied
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About Leviticus
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions (Book II), Section 4, XXV; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 177; GK Chesterton, Heretics, Ch. 14: On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family (1905); GK Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions, The New House (1910); Gregory the Dialogist, 40 Homilies on the Gospels - Homily 20; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.