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.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
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.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Notes and References
"... It is well known that sapiential sayings influenced the legal codes of the Hebrew Bible.1 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 ..."
Yona, Shamir
"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 Cohen, Chaim, and Shalom M. Paul (eds.) 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
(pp. 413-423) Eisenbrauns, 2008
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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