Leviticus 19:18: the commandment Jesus called the second greatest
18Do not seek revenge, neither should you be mindful of the injury of your fellow citizens. You shall love your friend as yourself. I am the Lord.
The most quoted commandment of the Old Testament opens with two prohibitions. Before it tells anyone to love, the verse rules out revenge and the nursing of an injury — love is defined first by what it does not do.
Short answer
Leviticus 19:18 forbids seeking revenge and dwelling on the injuries of your own people, and commands loving your neighbour as yourself, closing with the signature that runs through the chapter: I am the Lord. It is the commandment Jesus cites as the second greatest.
- Written by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 2 min read
Almost everyone knows the second half of this verse and skips the first. And it is the first half that gives the second its practical content, because it says what to do with what most people actually feel toward someone who has wronged them.
Where this verse appears
Leviticus 19 belongs to what is called the holiness code, and it mixes instructions about worship, harvesting, wages, courts and daily dealings. Just before this, the text forbids spreading rumours and orders open rebuke of a neighbour rather than silent hatred. Verse 18 closes that block on relationships.
What it says
A note on the wording: this edition says love your friend as yourself, following the Latin, where most English Bibles read neighbour. The Hebrew word covers the person next to you — the fellow member of the community — so friend here is not a narrowing to people you happen to like. It is worth knowing when comparing with another Bible, and it is how Jesus quotes the commandment in the Gospels.
The structure is decisive: two prohibitions and one command. Taking revenge is an action; dwelling on the injury is the interior, silent version of the same thing. The text forbids both, which closes off the most common escape route — doing nothing outwardly while cultivating everything inwardly.
The previous verse blocks any sentimental reading. It orders open rebuke, which means this love is not a synonym for avoiding conflict. Storing up a grievance and never saying a word is precisely the behaviour the passage is prohibiting.
What to do with it today
The practical application is in the first half, and it stings: is there someone you have been holding something against for months without ever having the conversation? The verse treats that as a problem to solve, not as patience.
One honest limit is worth recording. The text speaks of conduct — do not take revenge, do not nurse the injury, act with love — and does not demand that you feel affection for the person who hurt you. Nor does it oblige anyone to stay close to someone dangerous. Forgiving and remaining exposed are not the same thing.
A prayer to carry with you
Lord, I have been carrying an old account against someone and calling it patience. Take from me the grudge I keep in silence. Give me the courage to say what needs saying, and to treat that person as a human being. Amen.