{"id":115515,"date":"2026-09-14T20:06:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/?p=115515"},"modified":"2026-09-14T20:06:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T00:06:35","slug":"is-it-a-sin-to-hold-a-grudge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/bible-resources\/bible-answers\/is-it-a-sin-to-hold-a-grudge\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It a Sin to Hold a Grudge? Leviticus Pairs It With Love"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>12 Minute, 47 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

It’s late. The house is quiet. And you’re back in that conversation again.<\/p>\n\n

You know every word. What they said. The look on their face. What you should have said back. It happened months ago, maybe years. You’ve even told people you’re over it. But here you are, running it one more time.<\/p>\n\n

And under all of that sits a quieter question: is it a sin to hold a grudge?<\/em> Or is this just what being hurt feels like?<\/p>\n\n

The Bible has a clear answer. But it’s kinder and more practical than you might expect. And it’s hiding inside the most famous command in Scripture.<\/p>\n\n

Is It a Sin to Hold a Grudge? The Short Answer<\/h2>\n\n

Yes, the Bible names holding a grudge as something God’s people are told not to do. Here is the verse, from Leviticus 19:18:<\/p>\n\n

“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

But notice what that verse does not<\/em> forbid. It doesn’t forbid being hurt. It doesn’t forbid being angry. Elsewhere Paul writes, “Be ye angry, and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26). Anger is treated as a normal human response to a real wrong. (We looked closer at that in what the Bible says about anger<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n

The hurt is not the sin. The keeping<\/em> is. And that word “keeping” turns out to be exactly what the Hebrew means.<\/p>\n\n