Proverbs 24:28

28 Do not be a 1witness against your neighbor without cause, And 2do not deceive with your 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 He kisses the lips Who gives a right answer.
27 Prepare your work outside And make it ready for yourself in the field; Afterwards, then, build your house.
28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, And do not deceive with your lips.
29 Do not say, "Thus I shall do to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work."
30 I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense,

Cross References 2

  • 1. Proverbs 25:18
  • 2. Leviticus 6:2, 3; Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:25
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