The Torah forbids “gossip”, which is the Hebrew word “rakil”,
You shall not go around as a gossiper among your people…
Leviticus 19:16
Which means to say secret things about someone else for no good or righteous or set-apart purpose, a “talebearer”, or an “informer”, which can be things that are true about someone, such as secrets that the gossiper was entrusted with, which is a trust the gossiper betrayed, or secrets that the gossiper found out, and he is merely just spreading the “rumor” like wildfire, or gossip can also be things that are false about someone, and thus, because the nature of gossip is evil is why gossip always results in something evil against that person, whether bringing an evil name to that person, or bringing shame to that person, or bringing danger to that person, or bringing harm to that person, which is also why gossipers usually whisper their secrets about someone else into the ear of another, so that others may not know what they are saying because they know what they are doing is evil, just as those who commit other evil acts typically do so in secret places, so that others may not see what they are doing because they know what they are doing is evil,
A gossiper walks around to reveal a secret, but he who is of firm breath conceals a matter.
Proverbs 11:13
He that walks around as a gossiper reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with him that entices with his lips.
Proverbs 20:19
A perverse man spreads contention, and a gossiper separates close friends.
Proverbs 16:28
Whoever conceals a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
Proverbs 17:9
The words of a gossiper are like delicious morsels, they go down into the inner parts of the body.
Proverbs 18:8
For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no gossiper, contention ceases.
Proverbs 26:20
Which is similar to what a “spy” does, which is the Hebrew word “ragal”, who goes about into a foreign land searching for secrets to report back those secrets to his own people,
And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
Genesis 42:9
And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
Numbers 21:32
But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”
Joshua 6:22
And the Torah also forbids “spreading false reports”, which includes “slander”, which is also considered gossip if the gossip is a lie about someone, which is also forbidden to speak in the context of two other commands of the Torah, “you shall not lie” and “you shall not deceive one another”, which is why in relation to slander, the Torah says that if a man falsely accuses his new wife of not having been a virgin when he married her, then he deserves to be whipped, no more than 40 times, because his slanderous accusation brought an evil name upon someone innocent, a virgin, which is indeed the righteous punishment for slander in accordance to the Torah, to be whipped, although when the Messiah returns the penalty of slander will be more severe, for all slanderers will simply be thrown into the lake of lava, which is why during that time if someone merely calls their brother “idiot” out of hatred, then they will be liable to be thrown into the lake of lava, for the Messiah will indeed rule the world with a rod of iron,
You shall not spread a false report…
Exodus 23:1
…you shall not lie…
Leviticus 19:11
…You shall not deceive one another.
Leviticus 19:11
You shall keep far from a false accusation…
Exodus 23:7
If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him, and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days.
Deuteronomy 22:13-19
then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.
Deuteronomy 25:2-3
The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.
Proverbs 10:18
With his mouth the profane man destroys his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.
Proverbs 11:9
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.
Psalm 34:13
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the Gehenna of fire.
Matthew 5:22
The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
Revelation 2:26-27
As such, gossip and slander is always speaking “evil against someone”, which is rotten, destructive, malicious, and evil, which is why the Torah forbade it, which the apostles simply repeated what the Torah commanded, and rather, we are to speak the truth one to another, in love, for a good and righteous and set-apart purpose, to “edify”,
Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the Torah and judges the Torah. But if you judge the Torah, you are not a doer of the Torah but a judge. There is only one Torah giver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
James 4:11-12
Let no rotten talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give favor to those who hear.
Ephesians 4:29
For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish, that perhaps there may be quarreling, envy, rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.
2 Corinthians 12:20-21
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, depravity, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. Though they know the righteous decree of God that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Romans 1:28-32
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
1 Peter 2:1
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Ephesians 4:25
These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace
Zechariah 8:16
He who speaks the truth tells what is righteous, but a false witness speaks deceit.
Proverbs 12:17
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into the Messiah
Ephesians 4:15
But now you must put them all away: wrath, rage, malice, blasphemy, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
Colossians 3:8-9
Let there be no obscenity nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
Ephesians 5:4
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
James 1:26
When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
Proverbs 10:19
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Proverbs 18:21
Set a guard, O the Master, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!
Psalm 141:3
The lips of a fool enter into contention, and his mouth invites a beating. The mouth of a fool is his destruction, and his lips are a trap to his soul.
Proverbs 18:6-7
Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying what they should not.
1 Timothy 5:13
Their wives likewise must be honorable, not slanderers, but sober-minded, trustworthy in all things.
1 Timothy 3:11
Older men are to be sober-minded, honorable, self-controlled, sound in trust, in love, and in perserverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good.
Titus 2:2-3
And unlike gossip, revealing the secrets of another for a good and righteous and set-apart purpose is not evil, such as when there is sin in the assembly, and the leaders of the assembly need to be informed so that they can rebuke the sinner, and in this case, it would be sin to not say anything about that person, for the Torah also commands, “you shall rebuke your neighbor, so that you may not partake in his sin”,
You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
Leviticus 19:17
Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.
1 Timothy 5:19-20
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in breath; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
1 Corinthians 5:1-3
What business is it of mine to judge those outside the assembly? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12-13
Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed.
2 Thessalonians 3:14
As such, the Hebrew word for gossiper, which is “rakil”, is based on the Hebrew word “rakal”, which means “merchant”, who is someone who sells goods to customers, and just as a merchant offers goods to anyone, a gossiper offers information to anyone,
Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Shabbath.
Nehemiah 13:20-21
And thus, the greatest gossipers and slanderers of the world are the news companies, who freely gossip and slander anyone for no good or righteous or set-apart purpose, except to make money for offering information freely on anyone to the public, like merchants, and they love to spread scandals and speak evil against many people, which the world loves to listen to, and the more people listen to them, the more money they make through advertisements, and although not everything they report is evil, such as when they report on traffic conditions, or when they announce the construction of a new building, a true man of God must not watch the news on television nor listen to the news on the radio, for doing so makes him just as guilty of gossip and slander for willingly listening to them, for whatever a man says verbally with his mouth cannot be filtered, and in this case of news companies, one moment they may say something good, but another moment they may say something evil, but a true man of God may read the news, in written form, whether on paper or on the internet, because what a man chooses to read can indeed be filtered, reading only what is good, and not reading what is evil, no different than when a man goes to a bookstore only to buy a bible, which is good, which may also sell other types of books, such as a book on witchcraft, which is evil, and so, a man can read the news to inform himself on what is happening in the world only in matters that are necessary to know that are not “gossip” nor “slander” nor any other form of evil, for God also does not want us to be ignorant of what is happening in the world, which is how a man of God can set himself apart in the matter of informing himself on what is happening in the world,
And you shall set yourselves apart, and shall be set-apart, for I am the Master your God
Leviticus 20:7
so as to make a distinction between the set-apart and the ordinary, and between the unclean and the clean,
Leviticus 10:10
You shall be set-apart to me, for I the Master am set-apart and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
Leviticus 20:26
For you are a set-apart people to the Master your God. the Master your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a treasured possession above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 7:6
