Halakhah do Malachiasza 1:2

In the Blessed One's love for His people Israel and His great desire for their good — to the point of calling them "sons," and "the portion of the L–rd," and "inheritance," along with many other terms of affection which show His great love for Israel, viz. (Malachi 1:2): "I have loved You, said the L–rd, etc.," He distanced them from all forms of evil, especially from lashon hara and rechiluth. For it is these which bring men to quarrels and contention and which very often can lead to the spilling of blood, as the Rambam wrote (Hilchoth Deoth 4:1): "Even though there are no malkoth [stripes] for transgression of this negative commandment, it is a great sin, which leads to the killing of many souls in Israel, for which reason it [i.e., 'Do not go tale bearing among your people' (Vayikra 19:16) is followed by: 'Do not stand (idly) by the blood of your brother' — as evidenced by [the episode of] Doeg Ha'adomi and Nov, the city of priests (viz. I Samuel 22:9)."