Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 5:20
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker issues a prohibition against lying in testimony, positioned directly between commands forbidding theft and coveting. The text places this directive within a sequence of covenant stipulations given to the assembled people.
The words — The Hebrew phrase תַעֲנֶה עֵד שָׁוְא (ta.'a.Neh 'ed shav') literally means "you must testify falsehood." It pairs a verb for giving testimony with a noun denoting deceit or worthlessness.
The thread — This prohibition appears identically in Exodus 20:16 and aligns with the judicial warning in Exodus 23:1. Proverbs 19:9 reinforces the certainty of punishment for those who pour out lies.
Why it lands — The text commands the reader to refrain from giving deceptive testimony that harms a neighbor. It establishes factual honesty as a mandatory boundary for interpersonal conduct.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Cross-references
- Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Exodus 23:1 “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.
- Proverbs 19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who pours out lies will perish.
- Proverbs 19:5 A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies will not escape.
- Deuteronomy 19:16 If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,
- 1 Kings 21:13 And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
- Proverbs 6:19 a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.
- Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.