English, 1611
London, 1611, the King James Bible. Love your neighbour is older than this English. Hebrew first, then Greek. Charity is this Bible's word for that Greek love.
Can love be commanded?
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Leviticus 19:18
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not.
1 Corinthians 13:4
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:8
Leviticus is speaking to Israel: do not take revenge on your own people. Love your neighbour as yourself. The same chapter has already mentioned the stranger. Paul is writing to a church in Corinth that is quarreling. In this English, charity is patient and kind. The letter of John says that a person who does not love does not know God. The picture is the 1611 title page, not the page where Leviticus is printed.
Copenhagen. 1847.
You shall. The word is a command. It does not wait for a feeling.
The neighbor is the next one you see. You are not to stop loving the beloved in order to do it. If loving the neighbor meant giving up those you prefer, neighbor would be the greatest deception.
Søren Kierkegaard, Works of Love. House English of the 1847 Danish.
Love becomes an act toward the other, including the stranger. It does not wait for a feeling.
A command.To the neighbour.The stranger is already inside the sentence.
Sources
- The Holy Bible. London: Robert Barker, 1611. King James Version. Leviticus 19:18; 1 Corinthians 13:4; 1 John 4:8. Public domain. This English is a translation. Charity here renders agapē. The Hebrew command is older than 1611.
- Kierkegaard, Søren. Kjerlighedens Gjerninger [Works of Love]. Copenhagen, 1847. Danish public domain. House English of the duty: you shall; the neighbor is the next one you see; the beloved is not to be given up for the neighbor. Hong’s English remains in copyright and is not quoted.
