"An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth" is an expression that means revenge, and that the punishment must be given in the same proportion of damage caused.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, is a popular saying that suggests a punishment equal to the offense.
The expression "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" appeared in antiquity, where justice was done by the hands of men.
Code of Hammurabi
Hammurabi, king of Babylon, in the 18th century BC. C., is the author of 282 laws, which became known as the Code of Hammurabi, based on the law of talion, old penalty by which the offense was avenged, inflicting the same harm or harm on the offender practiced. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, was the basis of any justice: "If a person breaks into someone else's house, he must be sentenced to death and buried in front of the burglary site." "If someone accuses another but cannot prove it, the accuser will be killed"
Discovered in 1901 by the French archaeologist Jacques de Morgan in the outskirts of ancient Susa, present-day Tunisia, the Code of Hammurabi is found today in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Learn more about the meaning of Code of Hammurabi.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" in the Bible
The expression an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is also found in the Bible, more specifically in Exodus 21:24: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” In this passage, God revealed to Moses some laws so that he could pass it on to the rest of the people. This law fits the laws regarding violence.
However, these things changed with the coming of Jesus and the New Covenant. In Matthew 5:38-39, Jesus said, "You have heard it said: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you: Do not take revenge on those who do you harm. If someone slaps you in the face, turn the other side so they can hit you too."
Many years later, Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye and the world will end up blind." With these statements, Jesus and Gandhi were revealing the importance of forgiveness and non-violence, because revenge corrodes and blinds the human being.