Leviticus 19:18

Summary

The verse prohibits two actions — taking vengeance and holding a grudge — directed at the "sons of your people," and follows with a positive command to love one's neighbor as oneself. It closes with the self-identification formula "I am Yehovah."

Key words

• ti.Kom ("you will avenge yourself", H5358) — qal imperfect, second person masculine, expressing a prohibited future/ongoing action when combined with the negation lo' ("not", H3808).
• ti.Tor ("you will keep", H5201) — qal imperfect, second masculine, paired with a second lo', referring to sustained resentment or grudge-holding rather than a single act.
• be.Nei ("[the] sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct, linking to 'a.Me.kha ("your people", H5971A + H9021), defining the object of the two prohibitions.
• 'a.hav.Ta ("you will love", H0157G) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the syntactic chain begun by the imperfects; it functions as a command following the two prohibitions.
• ka.Mo.kha ("like yourself", H3644G + H9031) — preposition with pronominal suffix, forming the comparative standard for the verb "you will love."

What the text says

The verse is built on a chain of three verbs sharing the same subject ("you," masculine singular): two prohibitions in the qal imperfect (ti.Kom and ti.Tor), each negated by lo' ("not", H3808), followed by a qal sequential perfect ('a.hav.Ta), which in Biblical Hebrew narrative syntax continues the force of the preceding verbs — here shifting from prohibition to a positive instruction, "and you will love." This verbal sequence (imperfect + imperfect + sequential perfect) is a common structural pattern in legal or instructional Hebrew, where the perfect form continues the same modal force (prohibition/command) rather than indicating a separate past action.

The object of the first two verbs is marked by the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) followed by the construct phrase be.Nei 'a.Me.kha ("sons of your people"), specifying that the vengeance and grudge-holding in view concern members of one's own people. The third verb, "you will love," takes a different object introduced by the preposition le ("to", H9005) attached to re.'a.kha ("your neighbor", H7453 + H9021), and is qualified by ka.Mo.kha ("like yourself"), a preposition-plus-suffix construction setting the standard of comparison. The verse ends with 'a.ni Yehovah ("I am Yehovah"), a self-referential formula using the independent pronoun 'a.ni (H0589) plus the divine name (H3068G).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first clause as οὐκ ἐκδικᾶταί σου ἡ χείρ ("your hand will not take vengeance"), introducing "hand" (χείρ) where the Hebrew has only the verb ti.Kom without an explicit bodily subject. The Vulgate renders re.'a.kha ("your neighbor") as "amicum tuum" ("your friend"), narrowing the Hebrew term compared to the more general "neighbor" found in the LXX's πλησίον and most translations listed.