DEUT1505 Bible commentators understand [this verse] as referring not only to someone who strikes his unsuspecting neighbor physically, but also to someone who injures another by speaking lashon hara, an activity that takes place behind the victim's back. The Psalmist promises God's vengeance on such gossips: "He who slanders his friends in secret, I will destroy" (Psalms 101:5).. One of the great evils of lashon hara is that because it does not happen in the victim's presence, he is unable to defend himself.