Leviticus 6:3

3 or if he has found something lost and lies about it and swears falsely regarding any of these sins that people commonly commit -

Leviticus 6:3 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 6:3

Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it,
&c.] Who having found anything lost, at once concludes it his own, and converts it to his own use, never inquiring after the proprietor of it, or taking any method to get knowledge of him, and restore it to him; but so far from that, being suspected of finding it, and charged with it denies it: Maimonides ^F11 gives a reason why a lost thing should be restored, not only because so to do is a virtue in itself praiseworthy, but because it has a reciprocal utility; for if you do not restore another's lost things, neither will your own be restored to you:

and sweareth falsely;
which is to be understood, not of the last case only, but of all the rest, or of anyone of them, as it follows:

in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein;
by unfaithfulness in a trust, cheating, defrauding, lying, and false swearing.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 40.

Leviticus 6:3 In-Context

1 God spoke to Moses,

2 "When anyone sins by betraying trust with God by deceiving his neighbor regarding something entrusted to him, or by robbing or cheating or threatening him;

3 or if he has found something lost and lies about it and swears falsely regarding any of these sins that people commonly commit -

4 when he sins and is found guilty, he must return what he stole or extorted, restore what was entrusted to him, return the lost thing he found,

5 or anything else about which he swore falsely. He must make full compensation, add twenty percent to it, and hand it over to the owner on the same day he brings his Compensation-Offering.