Rabbi Yoḥanan began: “One who repays good with evil, evil will not move from his house” (Proverbs 17:13). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: If your friend received you with [serving you] lentils, receive him with [serving him] meat. Why? Because he performed an act of kindness for you first.2The one who initiates kindness first has done something of great importance, and if you want to repay him in kind, you should show even greater kindness towards him.
Rabbi Shimon bar Abba said: It is not only one who repays good with evil, but even one who repays evil with evil, that “evil will not move from his house.” Rabbi Alexandri said: “One who repays good with evil,” as the Torah said: “If you see the donkey of your enemy crouching under its burden, shall you refrain from assisting him? You shall surely assist him” (Exodus 23:5).3From this it is derived that even one who did evil to you, you are obligated to repay him with good and not evil.
Regarding him4Regarding one who fails to do so. it says: “One who repays good with evil, [evil] will not move…” Rabbi Berekhya interpreted the verse regarding these generations, the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion, as it is written after the Flood: “The entire earth was of one language and of common speech.”5Having a common language is a great advantage, but these people repaid God’s kindness with evil.