Proverbs 24:28

28 Do not be a false witness against thy neighbour, and do not flatter with thy lips.

Proverbs 24:28 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 24:28

Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause
Unless forced unto it, except there is some urgent reason for it; not upon any trivial account, or in any frivolous matter; never appear forward and eager to bear witness against him, and, whenever obliged to it, be not a false witness, but speak truth, whether thy neighbour be a friend or a foe; and deceive [not] with thy lips;
by bearing a false testimony, the judge, thy neighbour and thyself; for though men may be deceived, God cannot: or, shouldest thou do so, "thou wouldest break" and cut him to pieces "with thy lips" F24; which is the sense of the words according to R. Judah, as Ben Melech relates.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 (Kytpvb tytyphw) "et ne atteras labiis tuis", Vatablus; "et ne comminuas eum labiis tuis", Syriac version.

Proverbs 24:28 In-Context

26 The lips of the one that gives a right answer shall be kissed.
27 Prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in thine inheritance, and afterwards thou shalt build thine house.
28 Do not be a false witness against thy neighbour, and do not flatter with thy lips.
29 Do not say, I will do unto him as he has done unto me; I will render to the man according to his work.
30 I went by the field of the slothful and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding,
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010