Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
Greetings friends and smarter people than I,
I'm trying to get some feedback regarding "rebuke" [KJV & ASV] your neighbor vs. "reason frankly" [ESV] with your neighbor. Which is the better translation?
My question has to do with the reason you approach your neighbor and thus avoid hating him in your heart. The King James (and ASV) seems to say that to fail to rebuke your neighbor is to hate him. Then verse 18 sums up and enforces the teaching by saying you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But the ESV has the milder "reason frankly."
The Bible often uses an extreme case to teach that the less extreme is also required because much easier to obey. I've included several examples at the end of this post
Leviticus 19:17,18 KJV
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt (KJV "in any wise") [ASV "surely"] rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:17,18 ESV
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
The NIV agrees with the KJV.
Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.
Leviticus 19:17 NIV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deuteronomy 13:6-11 ESV
If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.
The Lord uses the same tactic in the stoning of your drunken and gluttonous son. If you would do this to your own flesh and blood, which would be one of the hardest things you could have to do, how much more should this sentence be carried out on the career criminal who is not related to you.
I'm trying to get some feedback regarding "rebuke" [KJV & ASV] your neighbor vs. "reason frankly" [ESV] with your neighbor. Which is the better translation?
My question has to do with the reason you approach your neighbor and thus avoid hating him in your heart. The King James (and ASV) seems to say that to fail to rebuke your neighbor is to hate him. Then verse 18 sums up and enforces the teaching by saying you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But the ESV has the milder "reason frankly."
The Bible often uses an extreme case to teach that the less extreme is also required because much easier to obey. I've included several examples at the end of this post
Leviticus 19:17,18 KJV
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt (KJV "in any wise") [ASV "surely"] rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:17,18 ESV
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
The NIV agrees with the KJV.
Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.
Leviticus 19:17 NIV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deuteronomy 13:6-11 ESV
If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.
The Lord uses the same tactic in the stoning of your drunken and gluttonous son. If you would do this to your own flesh and blood, which would be one of the hardest things you could have to do, how much more should this sentence be carried out on the career criminal who is not related to you.