“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:”
You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The fifth antithesis addresses the lex talionis, the law of proportional retaliation from Exodus 21:24. In its original context, the lex talionis was not a license for personal revenge but a limit on escalating vengeance in legal settings: the punishment must not exceed the injury. It was a principle of judicial restraint. The tradition, however, had extended it to personal dealings, providing a framework for private retaliation that Jesus will now challenge.
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