Maggie's Farm

Why did you omit verses 2-8?

They make it clear that this passage is a restatement of the 10 commandments - further undermining the "scholars" who claim the Bible was stitched together from various sources.

19:10 "strip your vineyard bare" is literally "orphan your vineyard". And it's not "fallen" grapes, but "singletons" or small clusters, that must be left on the vine for the poor.

19:11 deal falsely is simply "deny/contradict", and "to one another" is literally "a man to his neighbor". It's a word between "neighbor" and "companion"

19:12 "profaning" comes from a root that means "hollow". In modern Hebrew the same word is used for "secular" in general.

19:13 "defraud" is really "oppress" and the word used for "steal" here means actively swiping something by force (in verse 11 the word used means taking by stealth or deceit - each verse has its own emphasis.)

There is no "keep for yourself" in the original - it just says "let not the wages of a worker lay with you until morning".

19:14 "revile" is "curse" - in parallel with the stumbling block before the blind, the deaf cannot hear your calumny. Therefore "you shall fear G-d" - who does see "who did it".

In other words - morality is not relative or situational.

19:15 The root used for "unjust" literally means "crooked"

19:16 "slanderer" is just a "gossip" - literal translation is "don't go round like a peddler" - peddling stories - and "do not stand over your neighbor's blood."

19:17 Mistranslated at the end. Should be:
Do not hate your brother in your heart, surely rebuke your neighbor, and do not leave him to continue burdened in sin.

19:18 "bear a grudge" literally means "watch, guard" - nurturing a sense of grievance.

"Love your neighbor as yourself, I am G-d" - and if you don't love your neighbor as yourself, it demonstrates lack of faith.

Our sages say that this last verse summarizes the whole Torah.

In a famous story, a man came before the sage Hillel and said, "I'll convert if you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot."

Hillel answered with this verse, and converted him.

OK - any clue what the Church's problem is with the intervening verses?

Or perhaps they don't have popular appeal since they veer off into discussing the Temple sacrifices?