Exodus 20:16

American Standard Version (1901)

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹֽא־תַעֲנֶ֥ה בְרֵעֲךָ֖ עֵ֥ד שָֽׁקֶר׃

Transliteration

lōʾ-ṯaʿăneh ḇə-rēʿăḵā ʿēḏ shāqer

Grammar Details

• *lōʾ-ṯaʿăneh*: negative particle + qal imperfect, 2nd masculine singular - you shall not answer/testify
• *ḇə-rēʿăḵā*: preposition + masculine singular noun with 2nd masculine singular suffix - against your neighbor
• *ʿēḏ*: masculine singular noun - witness
• *shāqer*: masculine singular noun - falsehood

Word Meanings

• *ṯaʿăneh*: answer/testify/respond
• *rēʿăḵā*: your neighbor/your friend/your fellow
• *ʿēḏ shāqer*: false witness/lying testimony/deceptive evidence

Referenced Verses

• Prov 19:5 : 5 A false witness shall not be unpunished; And he that uttereth lies shall not escape.
• Matt 19:18 : 18 He saith unto him, Which? And Jesus said, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
• Ps 15:3 : 3 He that slandereth not with his tongue, Nor doeth evil to his friend, Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor;
• Ps 101:5-7 : 5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I destroy: Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer. 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall minister unto me. 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before mine eyes.
• Exod 23:1 : 1 Thou shalt not take up a false report: put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
• Matt 26:59-60 : 59 Now the chief priests and the whole council sought false witness against Jesus, that they might put him to death; 60 and they found it not, though many false witnesses came. But afterward came two,
• Acts 6:13 : 13 and set up false witnesses, who said, This man ceaseth not to speak words against this holy place, and the law:
• Eph 4:31 : 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice:
• 1 Tim 1:10 : 10 for fornicators, for abusers of themselves with men, for menstealers, for liars, for false swearers, and if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine; [
• 2 Tim 3:3 : 3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good,
• Jas 4:11 : 11 Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
• Exod 23:6-7 : 6 Thou shalt not wrest the justice [due] to thy poor in his cause. 7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
• Lev 19:11 : 11 Ye shall not steal; neither shall ye deal falsely, nor lie one to another.
• Lev 19:16 : 16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am Jehovah.
• Deut 19:15-21 : 15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. 16 If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrong-doing, 17 then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days; 18 and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and have testified falsely against his brother; 19 then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. 20 And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of thee. 21 And thine eyes shall not pity; life [shall go] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
• 1 Sam 22:8-9 : 8 that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that discloseth to me when my son maketh a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or discloseth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he inquired of Jehovah for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. 11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king. 12 And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord. 13 And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who among all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into thy council, and is honorable in thy house? 15 Have I to-day begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute anything unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for thy servant knoweth nothing of all this, less or more. 16 And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house. 17 And the king said unto the guard that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of Jehovah; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of Jehovah. 18 And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and he slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. 19 And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen and asses and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
• 1 Kgs 21:10-13 : 10 and set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst curse God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him to death. 11 And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13 And the two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him: and the base fellows bare witness against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did curse God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones.
• Prov 10:18 : 18 He that hideth hatred is of lying lips; And he that uttereth a slander is a fool.
• Prov 11:13 : 13 He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth secrets; But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth a matter.