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Leviticus 19 · a question people ask

Who counted as a neighbor?

In the text

Verse 18 puts "your neighbor" beside "the children of your people": "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (19:18). The chapter doesn't stop there. Of the stranger living in the land it says, "you shall love him as yourself" (19:34), in the same words. In Luke a lawyer quoted the command to Jesus, "and your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27), and then "desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, 'Who is my neighbor?'" (Luke 10:29). Jesus answered with a story, and asked him back, "which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?" (Luke 10:36).

The verses

““‘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.”
Leviticus 19:18 · World English Bible
““‘If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
Leviticus 19:33-34 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Leviticus 19

Leviticus 19: Love your neighbor as yourself

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (19:18) is from Leviticus, in a chapter that makes holy practical: field corners left for the poor, wages paid before morning, fair courts, honest weights. The same "as yourself" is said of the stranger (19:34), and Jesus called 19:18 the second great commandment (Matthew 22:39).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions