Imamat 19:11-16

Dealing Honestly

19:11 “‘You must not steal, you must not tell lies, and you must not deal falsely with your fellow citizen. ¹  19:12 You must not swear falsely ²  in my name, so that you do not profane ³  the name of your God. I am the Lord. 19:13 You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against him. ⁴  You must not withhold ⁵  the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning. 19:14 You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. ⁶  You must fear ⁷  your God; I am the Lord.

Justice, Love, and Propriety

19:15 “‘You ⁸  must not deal unjustly in judgment: ⁹  you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. ¹⁰  You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. ¹¹  19:16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. ¹²  You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. ¹³  I am the Lord.

[19:11]  ¹ tn Heb “you shall not deal falsely a man with his fellow citizen.”

[19:12]  ² tn Heb “And you shall not swear to the falsehood.”

[19:12]  ³ tn Heb “and you shall not profane”; NAB “thus profaning.”

[19:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “You shall not oppress your neighbor and you shall not rob.”

[19:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “hold back with you”; perhaps “hold back for yourself” (cf. NRSV “keep for yourself”).

[19:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “You shall not curse a deaf [person] and before a blind [person] you shall not put a stumbling block.”

[19:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “And you shall fear.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV) regard the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) as adversative in force here (“but”).

[19:15]  ⁸ 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.

[19:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”

[19:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”

[19:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”

[19:16]  ¹² 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.”

[19:16]  ¹³ 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).