Bible Strands
Matthew 5:38
You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to his gathered listeners on the mountainside, positioning this statement between his teaching on truthful speech and his command to refuse retaliation.
The words — Ἠκούσατε (Ēkousate) means "you have heard," and ἐρρέθη (errethē) means "it was said," marking the quoted phrase as a widely recognized tradition rather than a direct divine utterance.
The thread — The quoted maxim directly echoes the proportional justice statutes recorded in Leviticus 24:19 and Deuteronomy 19:21.
Why it lands — The text explicitly records Jesus citing a known legal principle before he immediately contrasts it with a command to stop resisting an evil person. It requires a reader to note the textual shift from measured retribution to nonretaliation without projecting later interpretive frameworks onto the plain statement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Cross-references
- Leviticus 24:19 If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him:
- Deuteronomy 19:21 You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
- Exodus 21:22 If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows.
- Deuteronomy 19:19 you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.
- Matthew 5:27 You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’