Standing by?

 

Leviticus 19:16

לֹא־תֵלֵ֤ךְ רָכִיל֙ בְּעַמֶּ֔יךָ לֹ֥א תַעֲמֹ֖ד עַל־דַּ֣ם רֵעֶ֑ךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה		16 You will not walk as a scandal-monger among your people, nor will you stand against the blood of your associate. I am Yahweh.
'tz la-tlç rcil bymiç la tymod yl-dm riyç ani ihvh	17 4	la t/lc rcl b/ym\ic la t/ymd yl dm ry\c ani ihvh

English translations have to add words to make sense of this verse. I am reading Witness -- Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom by Ariel Burger. 

On page 147 this verse is cited as 'the most important biblical commandment'. But how do you translate it? Here are some examples. Read them and see how many words are added as explanation. I don't know if the explanation will hinder or support the thesis of this book I am reading. But in my own 'search' for words to speak truth in trust, how much explanation is useful? The chapter is entitled 'activism'. Maybe that's a key.

The translation problem is with the verbs in this case, rcil - walk as a scandal-monger - why - the root is more often read as 'being a merchant'.  (But rcil can be consistently rendered as scandal-monger - or travelling sales rep). 

But more applicable to the claim in Burger, in the next sentence: tymod - simply means stand, not stand idly by. The compactness of the Hebrew requires more usage analysis. There is a word for shedding of blood, (E.g. Genesis 9:6) but here only the word blood is used.

Wiesel translates it as "Thou shalt not stand idly by the shedding of the blood of thy fellow human being."

I do not disagree with the direction of this translation, but the italicized words are all interpretive.

שֹׁפֵךְ֙ דַּ֣ם הָֽאָדָ֔ם בָּֽאָדָ֖ם דָּמ֣וֹ יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ כִּ֚י בְּצֶ֣לֶם אֱלֹהִ֔ים עָשָׂ֖ה אֶת־הָאָדָֽם		6 One shedding the blood of the human, by the human its blood will be shed, for in the image of God, he made the human.
v wopç dm hadm badm dmo iiwpç ci bxlm alohim ywh at-hadm	14 13	wpc dm h/adm b/adm dm\v i/wpc ci b/xlm alh\im ywh at h/adm