19:9 “‘When you gather in the harvest 1 of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, 2 and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest.
1 tn Heb “And in your harvesting the harvest.”
2 tn Heb “you shall not complete the corner of your field to harvest.”
3 tn The term רָכִיל (rakhil) is traditionally rendered “slanderer” here (so NASB, NIV, NRSV; see also J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 304, 316), but the exact meaning is uncertain (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129). It is sometimes related to I רָכַל (“to go about as a trader [or “merchant”]”; BDB 940 s.v. רָכַל), and taken to refer to cutthroat business dealings, but there may be a II רָכַל, the meaning of which is dubious (HALOT 1237 s.v. II *רכל). Some would render it “to go about as a spy.”
4 tn Heb “You shall not stand on the blood of your neighbor.” This part of the verse is also difficult to interpret. The rendering here suggests that one will not allow a neighbor to be victimized, whether in court (cf. v. 15) or in any other situation (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129).
5 tn Heb “And when you harvest the harvest.”
6 tn Heb “you shall not complete the corner of your field in your harvest.”
7 sn Compare Lev 19:9-10.
8 tn Heb “in the field.”
9 tn Heb “of your hands.” This law was later applied in the story of Ruth who, as a poor widow, was allowed by generous Boaz to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1-13).
10 tn Heb “knock down after you.”
11 tn Heb “glean after you.”