Proverbs 24:28

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

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 of friendship.

27 Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.

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

29 And don’t say, “Now I can pay them back for what they’ve done to me! I’ll get even with them!”

30 I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense.