A familiar Bible saying, checked in context
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind
No exact KJV match
Matthew 5:38 quotes “An eye for an eye”; the rest of this popular sentence is absent from the KJV. Jesus’ next words turn toward nonretaliation.
By @The..Mustard..Seed · Updated
Read the relevant KJV passage
Matthew 5:38Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Matthew 5:39But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Exodus 21:24Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Compare the evidence
Leviticus repeats proportional injury language in a legal setting. That helps identify the biblical portion of the familiar sentence.
Leviticus 24:20Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.
Deuteronomy gives another legal use of the formula. It does not include the added claim that the whole world becomes blind.
Deuteronomy 19:21And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
What the context adds
Matthew 5:38 quotes “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” before Jesus says to turn the other cheek in the next verse. Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy contain versions of the legal formula. The familiar longer sentence joins that exact biblical beginning to a separate warning about retaliation’s spread. The whole popular sentence is absent from the KJV. Matthew 5:38–42 places the legal formula beside Jesus’ instruction about a different response, so both parts of the comparison can be read together.
A question to carry forward
How does the purpose of a legal limit on injury differ from the instruction Jesus gives to his listeners?
Keep reading
Read Matthew 5:38–42 beside Exodus 21:22–25; compare Jesus’ instruction with the earlier legal formula.
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