Proverbs 24:28

28 Don't give witness against your neighbor without any reason. Don't use your lips to tell lies.

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 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.
27 Finish your outdoor work. Get your fields ready. After that, build your house.
28 Don't give witness against your neighbor without any reason. Don't use your lips to tell lies.
29 Don't say, "I'll do to him what he did to me. I'll get even with that man for what he did."
30 I went past the field of someone who didn't want to work. I went past the vineyard of a man who didn't have any sense.
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