Proverbs 24:28

28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause— would you use your lips to mislead?

Proverbs 24:28 in Other Translations

28 Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.

28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

28 Don’t testify against your neighbors without cause; don’t lie about them.

28 Don't talk about your neighbors behind their backs - no slander or gossip, please.

28 Don't testify against your neighbor without cause. Don't 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.

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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 Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause— would you use your lips to mislead?

29 Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me; I’ll pay them back for what they did.”

30 I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;

Cross References

• 1. S Psalms 7:4; Proverbs 25:18; Ephesians 4:25