19:15 “‘You 1 must not deal unjustly in judgment: 2 you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. 3 You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. 4 19:16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. 5 You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. 6 I am the Lord.
1 tc Smr has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the MT, which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.
2 tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”
3 tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”
4 tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”
5 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.”
6 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).