Exodus 20:16

Bishops' Bible (1568)

Thou shalt not beare false witnesse agaynst thy neyghbour.

📖 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 witnesse shall not be vnpunished: and he that speaketh lyes shall not escape.
• Matt 19:18 : 18 He sayth vnto hym: Which? Iesus sayde: Thou shalt do no murther, Thou shalt not commit adulterie, Thou shalt not steale, Thou shalt not beare false witnesse,
• Ps 15:3 : 3 He that backbyteth not with his tongue: nor doth any euil to his felowe, nor rayseth a slaunder vpon his neyghbour.
• Ps 101:5-7 : 5 I will destroy him who priuily slaundereth his neighbour: I wyll not suffer hym who hath a proude loke and a great stomacke. 6 Myne eyes shalbe vpon such in the lande as haue a true meanyng, that they may sit with me: he that leadeth a perfect lyfe shall minister vnto me. 7 There shall no deceiptfull person haue any seate in my house: he that telleth lyes shall not tary long in my syght.
• Exod 23:1 : 1 Thou shalt not haue to do with any false report, neither shalt thou put thine hand with the wicked, to be an vnrighteous witnesse.
• Matt 26:59-60 : 59 The chiefe priestes, and elders, and all the councell, sought false witnesse agaynst Iesus, for to put hym to death, 60 But founde none: yea, when many false witnesses came, yet founde they none. At the last, came two false witnesses,
• Acts 6:13 : 13 And brought foorth false witnesses, which sayde: This man ceasseth not to speake blasphemous wordes agaynste this holy place and the lawe.
• Eph 4:31 : 31 Let all bytternesse, and fiercenesse, & wrath, and crying, and euyll speakyng, be put away from you, with all maliciousnesse.
• 1 Tim 1:10 : 10 To whoremongers, to them that defyle them selues with mankynde, to manstealers, to lyers, to periured, and yf there be any other thyng that is contrarie to wholsome doctrine:
• 2 Tim 3:3 : 3 Without naturall affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, riotous, fierce, despisers of them which are good,
• Jas 4:11 : 11 Backbite not one another brethren. He that backbiteth his brother, and he that iudgeth his brother, backbiteth ye lawe, and iudgeth the lawe: But and yf thou iudge the lawe, thou art not an obseruer of the lawe, but a iudge.
• Exod 23:6-7 : 6 Thou shalt not hinder the right of thy poore in his suite. 7 Kepe thee farre from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous see thou slay not: for I wyll not iustifie the wicked.
• Lev 19:11 : 11 Ye shall not steale, neither deale falselye, neither lye one to another.
• Lev 19:16 : 16 Thou shalt not go vp and downe with tales among thy people, neither shalt thou stande agaynst the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lorde.
• Deut 19:15-21 : 15 One witnesse shall not rise agaynst a man for any maner trespasse, or for any maner sinne, or for any maner fault that he offendeth in: but at the mouth of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall the matter be stablished. 16 If a false witnesse rise vp agaynst a man, to accuse hym of trespasse: 17 Then both the men which stryue together, shall stande before the Lorde, before the priestes and the iudges which shalbe in those dayes: 18 And the iudges shall make diligent inquisition: and if the witnesse be founde false, and that he hath geuen false witnesse agaynst his brother: 19 Then shall ye do vnto hym, as he had thought to do vnto his brother, & thou shalt put euyll away from the middes of thee. 20 And other shall heare, and feare, and shall hencefoorth commit no more any such wickednesse among you. 21 And thine eye shall haue no copassion, but lyfe for lyfe, eye for eye, toothe for toothe, hande for hande, foote for foote.
• 1 Sam 22:8-9 : 8 That ye haue also conspired agaynst me, & there is none that telleth me that my sonne hath made a couenaunt with the sonne of Isai, and there is none of you yt is sory for me, or sheweth me that my sonne hath stirred vp my seruaunt to lye in wayte agaynst me as appeareth this day? 9 Then aunswered Doeg the Edomite (which was appoynted by ye seruauntes of Saul) and sayd: I sawe the sonne of Isai, when he came to Nob to Ahimelech the sonne of Ahitob, 10 Whiche asked councel of the Lorde for him, and gaue him vittayles, and the sword of Goliath the Philistine also. 11 Then the king sent and called for Ahimelech the priest the sonne of Ahitob, & all his fathers house that is to saye the priestes that were in Nob: And they came all to the king. 12 And Saul sayde: Heare nowe thou sonne of Ahitob. He aunswered: Here I am, my lorde. 13 And Saul sayde vnto him: Why haue ye conspired agaynst me, thou, and the sonne of Isai, in that thou hast geuen him vittayle, and a sworde, and hast asked councel of God for him, yt he shoulde aryse against me, and lye in waite for me as appeareth this day? 14 Ahimelech aunswered the king, and sayde: Who is so faithfull among all thy seruauntes, as Dauid, and therto the kinges sonne in lawe: and goeth at thy bidding, and is had in honour in thyne house? 15 Haue I this day begun first to aske councell of God for him? That be farre from me: Let not the king impute any thing vnto his seruaut, nor to all ye house of my father: For thy seruaunt knewe nothing of all this, either lesse or more. 16 The king sayde, Thou shalt surely die Ahimelech, thou, & al thy fathers house. 17 And the king sayde vnto the footemen that stoode about him: Turne, and slay the priestes of the Lorde: both because their hand is with Dauid, and because they knewe when Dauid fled, and shewed it not to me. But the seruauntes of the king would not moue their hades to fal vpon the priestes of the Lorde. 18 And the king sayde to Doeg: Turne thou, & fall vpon the priestes. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and ranne vpon the priestes, & slue that same day fourescore and fiue persons that did weare a linnen Ephod. 19 And Nob the citie of ye priestes, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklinges, oxen and asses, & sheepe, with the edge of the sworde.
• 1 Kgs 21:10-13 : 10 And set two vnthriftes before him, to beare witnesse against him, saying, Thou dyddest blaspheme God and the king: And then carie him out, and stone him to death. 11 And the men of his citie, euen the elders and gouernours whiche dwelt in his citie, dyd as Iezabel had sent vnto them, and as it was written in the letter whiche she had sent vnto them. 12 They proclaymed a fast, and set Naboth among the chiefe of the people. 13 And there came in two men the children of Belial, and sate before him: And the two vnthriftie persons witnessed against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying: Naboth dyd blaspheme God and the king. And they caried him out of the citie, & stoned him with stones, that he died.
• Prov 10:18 : 18 He that hydeth hatred with lying lippes, and he that speaketh slaunder, is a foole.
• Prov 11:13 : 13 A dissemblyng person wyll discouer priuie thynges: but he that is of a faythfull heart wyll kepe counsayle.