Leviticus 19:1-18
Love Your Neighbor
1Then the LORD said to Moses,
2“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
3Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
4Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.
5When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it for your acceptance.
6It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the next day; but what remains on the third day must be burned up.
7If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is tainted and will not be accepted.
8Whoever eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned what is holy to the LORD. That person must be cut off from his people.
9When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.
10You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
11You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another.
12You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
13You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
14You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.
15You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
16You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.
17You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him.
18Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
The LORD tells Moses to speak to the whole congregation of Israel: be holy because He is holy. The command begins at home with reverence for father and mother and faithful observance of the Sabbath. Holiness is introduced as a way of life, not a special mood reserved for the sanctuary.
Israel must not turn to idols or make cast images. When bringing a peace offering, the people must eat it within the appointed time. Leaving it beyond that time makes it unacceptable, and the person who eats it bears guilt.
The law protects the poor in the harvest. Reapers must not reap to the very edges, gather fallen grapes, or strip the vineyard completely. Those remains are left for the poor and the foreigner. Holiness includes what happens when no one is watching the field closely.
Israel must not steal, lie, deal falsely, withhold wages overnight, curse the deaf, or put a stumbling block before the blind. Judges must not show partiality, gossip must not be spread, and hatred must not be held in the heart. The chapter gathers its commands into the sentence, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Questions
1 What reason is given for Israel's holiness?
AnswerIsrael is to be holy because the LORD their God is holy.
2 Who was to benefit from the edges of the harvest?
AnswerThe poor and the foreigner were to gather what the harvesters left.
3 What must not be done to a deaf person or blind person?
AnswerIsrael must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind.
4 How does the chapter summarize neighbor-love?
AnswerIt commands each person to love his neighbor as himself.
What This Means for Us
Leviticus refuses to separate love for God from treatment of neighbors. Harvest margins, wages, speech, courtrooms, and private resentment all come under the word holy.
Look for the people who bear the cost when you take everything available. Leave room for others, speak truthfully, and do not make someone else's vulnerability useful to you.
Prayer
Lord, make your holiness visible in our ordinary relationships. Teach us to leave room for the poor, speak truth, pay fairly, protect the vulnerable, and love our neighbors with practical care. Amen.