Chronological timeline of texts tagged with Golden Rule
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The Golden Rule—commonly expressed as "treat others as you would like to be treated"—is a fundamental ethical principle that has appeared in cultures and philosophies across history. Found in ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China, it is a core teaching in major religious traditions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Despite cultural differences, this principle has consistently served as a universal guideline for fostering empathy and justice.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to Tag1850 BCE
The Eloquent Peasant
Ancient Near East
And the High Steward Meru's son Rensi said, 'Are your belongings more important to you than my follower's seizing you?' And this peasant said, 'And the measurer of heaps now defrauds for himself; the measurer for others now despoils his surroundings; the lawful leader now commands theft - who then will beat off wretchedness when the dispeller of infirmity is going wrong? One man is exact about being crooked; another acclaims the evildoer. Do you not profit yourself thus? The redress is short, the evil long; yet good character returns to its place of yesterday. This is a command: Do good for the man who acts, to motivate him to act. This is thanking him for what he does; this is parrying a thing before shooting; this is commissioning something from a master craftsman. O for a moment that destroys, downfall in your bird-nets, loss in your fowl, waste in your marsh-birds!
750–400 BCE
Leviticus 19:18
Hebrew Bible
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.
300–201 BCE
LXX Leviticus 19:18
Septuagint
17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart: you shall surely rebuke your neighbor, so you shall not bear sin on his account. 18 And your hand shall not avenge you; and you shall not be angry with the children of your people; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord. 19 You shall observe my law: you shall not let your cattle breed with one of a different kind, and you shall not sow your vineyard with diverse seed; and you shall not put upon yourself a mingled garment woven of two materials.
225–175 BCE
Tobit 4:15
Deuterocanon
14 Do not let the wages of any man, which shall work for you, stay with you, but render it to him out of hand: and if you serve God, recompense shall be made to you. Take heed to yourself, my child, in all your works, and be discreet in all your behaviour. 15 And what you yourself hate, do to no man. Do not drink wine to drunkenness, and do not let drunkenness go with you on your way. 16 Give of your bread to the hungry, and of your garments to them that are naked: of all your abundance give alms; and do not let your eye be grudging when you give alms. 17 Pour out your bread and your wine on the tomb of the just, and do not give to sinners.
195–180 BCE
Sirach 31:15
Deuterocanon
13 Remember that a greedy eye is a wicked thing. What has been created more greedy than an eye? Therefore it sheds tears from every face. 14 Don’t stretch your hand wherever it looks. Don’t thrust yourself with it into the dish. 15 Consider your neighbor’s feelings by your own. Be discreet in every point. 16 Eat like a human being those things which are set before you. Don’t eat greedily, lest you be hated. 17 Be first to stop for manners’ sake. Don’t be insatiable, lest you offend. 18 And if you sit among many, Don’t reach out your hand before them.
200–150 BCE
Letter of Aristeas 207
Pseudepigrapha
The king received the answer with great delight and looking at another said, 'What is the teaching of wisdom?' And the other replied, 'As you wish that no evil should happen to you, but to be a partaker of all good things, so you should act on the same principle toward your subjects and offenders, and you should mildly admonish the noble and good. For God draws all men to himself by his benignity.'
1–100 CE
2 Enoch 61:1
Pseudepigrapha
1 And now, my children, keep your hearts from every injustice, which the Lord hates. Just as a man asks for his own soul from God, so let him do to every living soul, 2 because I know all things, how in the great time many dwellings are prepared for men, good for the good, and bad for the bad, many without number.
65 CE
Seneca, Moral Epistles 9:3
Classical
But he need never lack friends, for it lies in his own control how soon he shall make good a loss. Just as Phidias, if he lose a statue, can straightway carve another, even so our master in the art of making friendships can fill the place of a friend he has lost. If you ask how one can make oneself a friend quickly, I will tell you, provided we are agreed that I may pay my debt at once and square the account, so far as this letter is concerned. Hecato, says: 'I can show you a philtre, compounded without drugs, herbs, or any witch's incantation: 'If you would be loved, love.'
120 CE
Hierocles, On Fraternal Love
Classical
The first advice, therefore, is very clear, easily obtained, and is common to all men. For it is a sane assertion, which every man will consider as evident. And it is this: Act by every one, in the same manner as if you supposed yourself to be him, and him to be you. For he will use a servant well who considers with himself, how he would think it proper to be used by him, if he indeed was the master, and himself the servant. The same thing also must be said of parents with respect to children, and of children with respect to parents; and, in short, of all men with respect to all. This advice, however, is transcendently adapted to the alliance of brothers to each other; since nothing else is necessary for him to admit previously, who considers how he ought to conduct himself towards his brother, than promptly to assume the natural sameness of the person of each of them. This, therefore, is the first advice, that a man should act towards his brother in the same way in which he would think it proper that his brother should act towards him. But, by Zeus, some one may say, I do not exceed propriety in my manners and am equitable, but my brother's manners are rough and without affability. Such a one, however, does not speak rightly.
60–75 CE
Mark 12:31
New Testament
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him.
70–90 CE
Matthew 5:43
New Testament
42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
70–90 CE
Matthew 7:12
New Testament
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets.
70–90 CE
Matthew 22:37
New Testament
34 Now when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together. 35 And one of them, an expert in religious law, asked him a question to test him: 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
50–500 CE
Onkelos Leviticus 19:18
Targum
17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart: you shall certainly correct your neighbor and not incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not be revengeful, nor bear a grudge against the children of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. 19 You shall observe My statutes. You shall not crossbreed your cattle with other kinds, sow your field with mixed kinds of seed, or wear a garment made from a mixture of wool and linen.
300–1200 CE
Thou shalt not hinder the acquittal of thy neighbour in witnessing against him in the judgment: I am the Lord. against your neighbour, nor be silent about thy neighbour's blood, what time in the judgment thou knowest the truth: so speaketh the Lord.] Speak not bland words with your lips, having hatred to your brother in your hearts; but reproving you shall reprove your neighbour; and though it make you ashamed, you shall not contract sin in account of him. Be not revengeful, nor cherish animosity against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbour himself, as that though there be (cause of) hatred with thee thou mayest not do (evil) to him: I am the Lord. You shall keep My statutes. Thy cattle shall not be made to gender with various kinds, neither sow thy field with mixed seeds, nor put upon thee a garment of divers materials, (as) wool and linen.
90–120 CE
Didache 1:2
Early Christian
1 There are two Ways: one of Life and one of Death, and there is a significant difference between the two Ways. 2 The way of life is as follows: First, you should love the God who created you; secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. Treat others as you would want to be treated. 3 Now, the teaching behind these words is this: Bless those who curse you, pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you. What credit is it to you if you love only those who love you back? Don't even the non-believers do the same? Instead, love those who hate you, and you will have no enemies.
195 CE
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.23
Early Christian
According to the opinion of the Stoics, marriage and the rearing of children are a thing indifferent; and according to the Peripatetics, a good. In a word, these, following out their dogmas in words, became enslaved to pleasures; some using concubines, some mistresses, and the most youths. And that wise quaternion in the garden with a mistress, honoured pleasure by their acts. Those, then, will not escape the curse of yoking an ass with an ox, who, judging certain things not to suit them, command others to do them, or the reverse. This Scripture has briefly showed, when it says, "What thou hatest, thou shalt not do to another." But they who approve of marriage say, Nature has adapted us for marriage, as is evident from the structure of our bodies, which are male and female.
190–230 CE
Pirkei Avot 2:10
Rabbinic
10 They each said three things. Rabbi Eliezer said: Let the honor of your friend be as dear to you as your own; do not be easily provoked to anger; and repent one day before your death. He also said: warm yourself before the fire of the wise, but beware of being singed by their glowing coals, for their bite is the bite of a fox, their sting is the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss of a serpent, and all their words are like coals of fire. 11 Rabbi Joshua said: an evil eye, the evil inclination, and hatred for humankind put a person out of the world. 12 Rabbi Yose said: Let the property of your fellow be as precious to you as your own; make yourself fit to study Torah, for it will not be yours by inheritance; and let all your actions be for the sake of the name of Heaven.
450–550 CE
Shabbat 31a
Rabbinic
There was another incident involving one gentile who came before Shammai and said to Shammai: Convert me on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot. Shammai pushed him away with the builder’s cubit in his hand. This was a common measuring stick and Shammai was a builder by trade. The same gentile came before Hillel. He converted him and said to him: That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study.
700–900 CE
Avot de Rabbi Natan 26
Rabbinic
Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar would say: When the people of Israel are in foreign lands, they worship idolatry without meaning to. How so? A Samaritan makes a party for his son. He sends out an invitation to all the Jews in his city. Even though they eat and drink their own food, and bring their own attendants who stand and pour for them, it is still considered as if they ate from the sacrifices of the dead, as it says (Exodus 34:15), “They will call to you, and you will eat their sacrifices.”Rabbi Eliezer HaModa’i would say: Anyone who violates the Sabbath, scorns the festivals, disregards circumcision, or attempts to reveal the flaws of the Torah, even though he may be learned in Torah and have done many good deeds, he has no share in the World to Come. Rabbi Akiva would say: Anyone who marries a woman who is not proper for him transgresses five commandments: “Do not take vengeance” (Leviticus 19:18), “Do not bear a grudge” (ibid.), “Do not hate your brother in your heart” (Leviticus 19:17), “Love your fellow as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), and “Let your brother live with you” (Leviticus 25:36). Because he will hate her he will want her to die, and this will cause fewer children to be born into the world.