“Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord.”
Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the Lord. The speech ethics of the Holiness Code: no slander, nothing that endangers a neighbor's life. The connection between speech (slander) and physical safety (endangering life) communicates the deadly potential of malicious speech: words that destroy reputations can destroy lives. Proverbs 18:21 says the tongue has the power of life and death — the prohibition on slander in the Holiness Code addresses the life-and-death stakes of speech within the covenant community.
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