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Proverbs

About this book
Chapter 24

1 Do not envy evil people do not desire to be with them; 2 for their hearts contemplate violence, and their lips speak harm. 3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; 4 by knowledge its rooms are filled with all kinds of precious and pleasing treasures. 5 A wise warrior is strong, and a man of knowledge makes his strength stronger; 6 for with guidance you wage your war, and with numerous advisers there is victory. 7 Wisdom is unattainable for a fool; in court he does not open his mouth. 8 The one who plans to do evil will be called a scheming person. 9 A foolish scheme is sin, and the scorner is an abomination to people. 10 You have slacked off in the day of trouble— your strength is small! 11 Deliver those being taken away to death, and hold back those slipping to the slaughter. 12 If you say, “But we did not know about this,” won’t the one who evaluates hearts discern it? Won’t the one who guards your life realize and repay each person according to his deeds?⁠ 13 Eat honey, my child, for it is good, and honey from the honeycomb is sweet to your taste. 14 Likewise, know that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you have found it, you have a future, and your hope will not be cut off. 15 Do not lie in wait like the wicked against the place where the righteous live; do not assault his home. 16 Indeed a righteous person will fall seven times, and then get up again, but the guilty will collapse in calamity. 17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and when he stumbles do not let your heart rejoice,⁠ 18 lest the Lord see it, and be displeased, and turn his wrath away from him. 19 Do not fret because of evil people or be envious of wicked people, 20 for the evil person has no future, and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished. 21 Fear the Lord, my child, as well as the king, and do not associate with rebels,⁠ 22 for suddenly their destruction will overtake them, and who knows the ruinous judgment both the Lord and the king can bring?⁠ 23 These sayings also are from the wise: To show partiality in judgment is terrible: 24 The one who says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him. 25 But there will be delight for those who convict the guilty, and a pleasing blessing will come on them. 26 Like a kiss on the lips is the one who gives an honest answer. 27 Establish your work outside and get your fields ready; afterward build your house. 28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your words. 29 Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will pay him back according to what he has done.”⁠ 30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of one who lacks sense. 31 I saw that thorns had grown up all over it; the ground was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down. 32 Then I scrutinized it. I was putting my mind to it—I saw; I took in a lesson: 33 “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to relax, 34 and your poverty will come like a bandit, and your need like an armed robber.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 19:18 and Proverbs 24:29

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Leviticus 19 forbids revenge and calls for love of one’s neighbor, and Proverbs 24 similarly tells people not to return harm for harm. Together they show a shared tradition where legal rules and wisdom sayings agree in rejecting personal revenge.

Passages

Leviticus 19:18

Hebrew Bible
16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the Lord. 17 You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. 18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. 19 You must keep my statutes. You must not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed together, you must not sow your field with two different kinds of seed, and you must not wear a garment made of two different kinds of material.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Proverbs 24:29

Hebrew Bible
27 Establish your work outside and get your fields ready; afterward build your house. 28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your words. 29 Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will pay him back according to what he has done.” 30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of one who lacks sense. 31 I saw that thorns had grown up all over it; the ground was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Proverbs

References

"... It is well known that sapiential sayings influenced the legal codes of the Hebrew Bible. In addition, it has already been demonstrated that the legal codes of the ancient Near East and their style have influenced both the content and the style of sapiential aphorisms ... (Compare Proverbs 20:22; 24:29) The relationship between the two proverbs is reflected on three distinct levels. First, both proverbs belong to the literary category of instructions. Evidence that the two proverbs belong to this category includes both their identical opening formulas, “Do not say,” and their common subjects: one should not repay evil but let God punish the wicked. The expression “I will do to him as he did to me” is a fixed formula in Hebrew Scripture with respect to recompense ... even though it might be inferred from Proverbs 3:30 that it countenances quarreling with someone for a good reason—namely, that the other individual did harm—the proverb refers only to a verbal argument and nothing further. (Note Leviticus 19:18) The prohibition against repaying with evil a person who has done you harm is not unique to Hebrew Scripture. It is also found in other literatures of the ancient Near East ..."
Shamir Yona, “The Influence of Legal Style on the Style of Aphorism: The Origin of the Retribution Formula and the Clause lo yinnaqeh 'He Will Not Go Unpunished' in the Book of Proverbs,” in Birkat Shalom: Studies in the Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, ed. Chaim Cohen and Shalom M. Paul (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2008), 413–423.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 19:18 and Proverbs 24:29

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