Passage
You shall not take vengeance, and you shall not keep your anger against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.
Leviticus 19:18 (LSB)
Nearby Context
Leviticus 19:16 You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand against the life of your neighbor; I am Yahweh.
Leviticus 19:17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, and so not bear sin because of him.
Leviticus 19:18 You shall not take vengeance, and you shall not keep your anger against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.
Leviticus 19:19 ‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.
Leviticus 19:20 ‘Now if a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave assigned to another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death because she was not free.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "shall", "take", "vengeance", "keep", "anger", "against", and "sons". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "take", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 17's "You shall not hate your brother in..." into verse 19's "You are to keep My statutes You...", so "shall" and "take" belong inside that flow. In Leviticus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "take" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.