{"id":5540,"date":"2026-04-05T00:01:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=5540"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:52:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:52:51","slug":"leviticus-1917-18-you-shall-not-hate-your-brother-in-your-heart-you-shall-surely-rebuke-your-neighbor-and-not-bear-sin-because-of-him-you-shall-not-take-vengeance-nor-bear-any-grudge-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=5540","title":{"rendered":"Leviticus 19:17\u201318: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In these verses we have the first occurrence of the so-called golden rule<\/em>, which Jesus quoted four times in the New Testament (Matthew 19:19, 22:39, Mark 12:31, and Luke 10:27). The concept of loving your neighbor as you love yourself is unique to the Old Testament. It cannot be found in any other ancient writings until after the time Leviticus was written. In fact, this idea goes against the normal practices of the day of all other cultures.<\/p>\n

God is dealing with something deeper than actions; He is dealing with what lies beneath actions, the heart. Notice that God’s children are commanded to love, not just in action, but fundamentally, from their hearts. It is required of God’s people that even when love is not yet<\/em> the desire of the heart, it still must be one’s actions, which eventually the heart will follow.<\/p>\n

We must not be comfortable to merely treat others well, while hiding a heart of hatred toward them. God desires to change our hearts so that we do in fact come to a place where we are able to love them unconditionally.<\/p>\n

“LORD, we choose to love that difficult neighbor this day, and as we are obedient in showing him kindness, would you please change our hearts to honestly love him.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Leviticus 19 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0spake unto Moses, saying,\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>holy. 3<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORDyour God. 4<\/sup> Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God. 5<\/sup>\u00a0And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the\u00a0LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it\u00a0is<\/em>abominable; it shall not be accepted.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore\u00a0every one\u00a0<\/em>that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the\u00a0LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 9<\/sup>\u00a0And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather\u00a0every\u00a0<\/em>grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God. 11<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. 12<\/sup>\u00a0And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD. 13<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob\u00a0him:\u00a0<\/em>the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. 14<\/sup> Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD. 15<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty:\u00a0but\u00a0<\/em>in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. 16<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not go up and down\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD.17<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD. 19<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. 20<\/sup>\u00a0And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.\u00a0\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the\u00a0LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>a ram for a trespass offering.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him. 23<\/sup>\u00a0And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the\u00a0LORD\u00a0withal\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God. 26<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall not eat\u00a0any thing\u00a0<\/em>with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD. 29<\/sup>\u00a0Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD. 31<\/sup> Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God. 32<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD. 33<\/sup>\u00a0And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.\u00a0\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0But\u00a0<\/em>the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God. 35<\/sup> Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.\u00a036<\/sup>Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In these verses we have the first occurrence of the so-called golden rule, which Jesus quoted four times in the New Testament (Matthew 19:19, 22:39, Mark 12:31, and Luke 10:27). The concept of loving your neighbor as you love yourself is unique to the Old Testament. It cannot be found in any other ancient writings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5540"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15923,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5540\/revisions\/15923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}