Proverbs 24:28

28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, and do 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 An honest answer given is like a kiss on the lips.
27 Complete your outdoor work and prepare your field; after that, you may build your house.
28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.
29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will repay the man according to his work.”
30 I went past the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment.
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