Leviticus 19:17
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him.
Open Leviticus 19:17 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Non oderis fratrem tuum in corde tuo, sed publice argue eum, ne habeas super illo peccatum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- οὐ μισήσεις τὸν ἀδελφόν σου τῇ διανοίᾳ σου· ἐλεγμῷ ἐλέγξεις τὸν πλησίον σου, καὶ οὐ λήμψῃ δι᾽ αὐτὸν ἁμαρτίαν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- לֹֽא תִשְׂנָ֥א אֶת אָחִ֖יךָ בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ הוֹכֵ֤חַ תּוֹכִ֨יחַ֙ אֶת עֲמִיתֶ֔ךָ וְלֹא תִשָּׂ֥א עָלָ֖יו חֵֽטְא
Haydock's commentary
Openly, is not in the Hebrew or other versions. Instead of bearing malice at the heart, we are authorized to demand our right in a legal manner, or to correct in a fraternal matter, the person who may have injured us, lest we incur sin for our neglect, and the offender continue impenitent. Jesus Christ instructs us to do this with as little disturbance as possible, Matthew xviii. 15. Yet public sins must undergo a public correction, 1 Timothy v. 20. (St. Augustine, ser. 82.) Love should regulate our complaints. (St. Augustine, q. 70.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian The Five Books Against Marcion, The Divine Power Shown in Christ's Incarnation. Meaning of St. Paul's Phrase. Likeness of Sinful Flesh. No Docetism in It. Resurrection of Our Real Bodies. A Wide Chasm Made in the Epistle by Marcion's Erasure. When the Jews are Upbraided by the Apostle for Their Misconduct to God; Inasmuch as that God Was the Creator, a Proof is in Fact Given that St. Paul's God Was the Creator. The Precepts at the End of the Epistle, Which Marcion Allowed, Shown to Be in Exact Accordance with the Creator's Scriptures
If the Father “sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,” it must not therefore be said that the flesh which He seemed to have was but a phantom. For he in a previous verse ascribed sin to the flesh, and made it out to be “the law of sin dwelling in his members,” and “warring against the law of the mind.” On this account, therefore, (does he mean to say that) the Son was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, that He might redeem this sinful flesh by a like substance, even a fleshly one, which bare a resemblance to sinful flesh, although it was itself free from sin. Now this will be the very perfection of divine power to effect the salvation (of man) in a nature like his own. …
The Apostolic Constitutions Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, Sec. VI. The Disputes of the Faithful to Be Settled by the Decisions of the Bishop, and the Faithful to Be Reconciled
LIII . But you who know who our God is, and what are His judgments, how can you bear to pass an unjust judgment, since your sentence will be immediately known to God? And if you have judged righteously, you will be deemed worthy of the recompenses of righteousness, both now and hereafter; but if unrighteously, you will partake of the like. We therefore advise you, brethren, rather to deserve commendation from God than rebukes; for the commendation of God is eternal life to men, as is His rebuke everlasting death. Be ye therefore righteous judges, peacemakers, and without anger. …
The Apostolic Constitutions Book VII. Concerning the Christian Life, and the Eucharist, and the Initiation into Christ, Sec. I. On the Two Ways, The Way of Life and the Way of Death
V . Thou shalt not be an hypocrite, lest thy “portion be with them.” Thou shalt not be ill-natured nor proud: for “God resisteth the proud.” “Thou shalt not accept persons in judgment; for the judgment is the Lord’s.” “Thou shalt not hate any man; thou shalt surely reprove thy brother, and not become guilty on his account;” and, “Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee.” Eschew all evil, and all that is like it: for says He, “Abstain from injustice, and trembling shall not come nigh thee.” Be not soon angry, nor spiteful, nor passionate, nor furious, nor daring, lest thou undergo the fate of Cain , and of Saul , and of Joab : for the first of these slew his brother Abel , because Abel was found to be preferred before him with God, and because Abel ’s sacrifice was preferred; the second persecuted holy David , who had slain Goliah the Philistine, being envious of the praises of the wome …
St John Cassian The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults, Chapter XV. How the Old Law would root out anger not only from the actions but from the thoughts
But why should we spend any more time over evangelic and apostolic precepts, when even the old law, which is thought to be some what slack, guards against the same thing, when it says, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart;” and again, “Be not mindful of the injury of thy citizens;” and again, “The ways of those who preserve the recollection of wrongs are towards death”? You see there too that wickedness is restrained not only in action, but also in the secret thoughts, since it is commanded that hatred be utterly rooted out from the heart, and not merely retaliation for, but the very recollection of, a wrong done.