Discovery BoxRomans 12:14
Context12:14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse.
Romans 12:17
Context12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people. 1
Leviticus 19:18
Context19:18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge 2 against the children of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself. 3 I am the Lord.
Leviticus 19:1
Context19:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:
Leviticus 25:26
Context25:26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers 4 and gains enough for its redemption, 5
Leviticus 25:33
Context25:33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem – the sale of a house which is his property in a city – must revert in the jubilee, 6 because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites.
Proverbs 24:17-19
Context24:17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, 7
and when he stumbles do not let your heart rejoice,
24:18 lest the Lord see it, and be displeased, 8
and turn his wrath away from him. 9
24:19 Do not fret because of evil people
or be envious of wicked people,
Proverbs 24:29
Context24:29 Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me;
I will pay him back 10 according to what he has done.” 11
Ezekiel 25:12
Context25:12 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Edom 12 has taken vengeance against the house of Judah; they have made themselves fully culpable 13 by taking vengeance 14 on them. 15
[12:17] 1 tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic and refers to both men and women.
[19:18] 2 tn Heb “and you shall not retain [anger?].” This line seems to refer to the retaining or maintaining of some vengeful feelings toward someone. Compare the combination of the same terms for taking vengeance and maintaining wrath against enemies in Nahum 1:2 (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 305).
[19:18] 3 sn Some scholars make a distinction between the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) with the direct object and the more unusual construction with the preposition לְ (lamed) as it is here and in Lev 19:34 and 2 Chr 19:2 only. If there is a distinction, the construction here probably calls for direct and helpful action toward one’s neighbor (see the discussion in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 305, and esp. 317-18). Such love stands in contrast to taking vengeance or bearing a grudge against someone and, in NT terms, amounts to fulfilling the so-called “golden rule” (Matt 7:12).
[25:26] 4 tn Heb “and his hand reaches.”
[25:26] 5 tn Heb “and he finds as sufficiency of its redemption.”
[25:33] 6 tn Heb “And which he shall redeem from the Levites shall go out, sale of house and city, his property in the jubilee.” Although the end of this verse is clear, the first part is notoriously difficult. There are five main views. (1) The first clause of the verse actually attaches to the previous verse, and refers to the fact that their houses retain a perpetual right of redemption (v. 32b), “which any of the Levites may exercise” (v. 33a; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 418, 421). (2) It refers to property that one Levite sells to another Levite, which is then redeemed by still another Levite (v. 33a). In such cases, the property reverts to the original Levite owner in the jubilee year (v. 33b; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 321). (3) It refers to houses in a city that had come to be declared as a Levitical city but had original non-Levitical owners. Once the city was declared to belong to the Levites, however, an owner could only sell his house to a Levite, and he could only redeem it back from a Levite up until the time of the first jubilee after the city was declared to be a Levitical city. In this case the first part of the verse would be translated, “Such property as may be redeemed from the Levites” (NRSV, NJPS). At the first jubilee, however, all such houses became the property of the Levites (v. 33b; P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 353). (4) It refers to property “which is appropriated from the Levites” (not “redeemed from the Levites,” v. 33a) by those who have bought it or taken it as security for debts owed to them by Levites who had fallen on bad times. Again, such property reverts back to the original Levite owners at the jubilee (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177). (5) It simply refers to the fact that a Levite has the option of redeeming his house (i.e., the prefix form of the verb is taken to be subjunctive, “may or might redeem”), which he had to sell because he had fallen into debt or perhaps even become destitute. Even if he never gained the resources to do so, however, it would still revert to him in the jubilee year. The present translation is intended to reflect this latter view.
[24:17] 7 sn The saying (vv. 17, 18) warns against gloating over the misfortune of one’s enemies. The prohibition is formed with two negated jussives “do not rejoice” and “let not be glad,” the second qualified by “your heart” as the subject, signifying the inner satisfaction of such a defeat.
[24:18] 8 tn Heb “and [it is] evil in his eyes.”
[24:18] 9 sn The judgment of God should strike a note of fear in the heart of people (e.g., Lev 19:17-18). His judgment is not to be taken lightly, or personalized as a victory. If that were to happen, then the
[24:29] 10 tn Heb “repay to the man.” The verb is שׁוּב (shuv), which in the Hiphil stem means “to restore; to repay; to return” (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT “I’ll get even”). The idea is that of repaying someone for what he did.
[24:29] 11 sn Rather than give in to the spirit of vengeance, one should avoid retaliation (e.g., Prov 20:22; Matt 5:43-45; Rom 12:9). According to the Talmud, Hillel said, “Do not do to others what you would not have them do unto you” (b. Sanhedrin 31a).
[25:12] 12 sn Edom was located south of Moab.
[25:12] 13 tn Heb “and they have become guilty, becoming guilty.” The infinitive absolute following the finite verb makes the statement emphatic and draws attention to the degree of guilt incurred by Edom due to its actions.
[25:12] 14 tn Heb “and they have taken vengeance.”
[25:12] 15 sn Edom apparently in some way assisted in the destruction of Jerusalem in 587/6
