Proverbs 24:28

28 Don't be a witness against your neighbor without reason; 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.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 (Kytpvb tytyphw) "et ne atteras labiis tuis", Vatablus; "et ne comminuas eum labiis tuis", Syriac version.

Proverbs 24:28 In-Context

26 Those who speak honestly are like those who kiss on the lips.
27 Get your outside work done; make preparations in the field; then you can build your house.
28 Don't be a witness against your neighbor without reason; don't deceive with your lips.
29 Don't say, "I'll do to them what they did to me. I'll pay them back for their actions."
30 I happened upon the field of a lazy person, by the vineyard of one with no sense.
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