Say not, 'As he did to me, so I do to him, I render to each according to his work.'

Say not, I will do to him as he has done to me; I will give the man the reward of his work.

Do not say, "I will do to him as he has done to me." I will repay each one according to his work.

A protest against vindictiveness in every form. Compare marginal reference.

Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I (i) will render to the man according to his work.
(i) He shows what is the nature of the wicked, to revenge wrong for wrong.

Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me,.... He has falsely accused and reproached me, and bore a false testimony, or suborned false witnesses against me, and I will do the same to him, now an opportunity serves; but as private revenge itself is sinful, so especially when it is pursued in a wicked way;
I will render to the man according to his work; this should be left to the Lord, whose prerogative it is; see Proverbs 24:19.

Especially avoid retaliation (Matthew 5:43-45; Romans 12:17).

The following proverb is connected as to its subject with the foregoing: one ought not to do evil to his neighbour without necessity; even evil which has been done to one must not be requited with evil:
Say not, "As he hath done to me, so I do to him:
I requite the man according to his conduct."
On the ground of public justice, the talio is certainly the nearest form of punishment, Leviticus 24:19.; but even here the Sinaitic law does not remain in the retortion of the injury according to its external form (it is in a certain manner practicable only with regard to injury done to the person and to property), but places in its stead an atonement measured and limited after a higher point of view. On pure moral grounds, the jus talionis ("as thou to me, so I to thee") has certainly no validity. Here he to whom injustice is done ought to commit his case to God, Proverbs 20:22, and to oppose to evil, not evil but good; he ought not to set himself up as a judge, nor to act as one standing on a war-footing with his neighbour (Judges 15:11); but to take God as his example, who treats the sinner, if only he seeks it, not in the way of justice, but of grace (Exodus 34:6.). The expression 29b reminds of Proverbs 24:12. Instead of לאדם, there is used here, where the speaker points to a definite person, the phrase לאישׁ. Jerome, the Venet., and Luther translate: to each one, as if the word were vocalized thus, לאישׁ (Ps. 62:13).