Bible Strands
Exodus 23:1
“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel at Sinai, within the covenant code's judicial instructions (Exodus 20:22–23:33), immediately before the warning against following the crowd in perverting justice (Exodus 23:2).
The words — שׁוֹא (shav', H7723) literally means "emptiness, nothingness"; the verse equates a false report with a void, not merely an error. The verb תִּשָּׂא (tissa', H5375) is "you bear/carry," the same word used for lifting the ark, framing the false report as a burden one physically takes on.
The thread — Deuteronomy 19:16–19 develops the judicial procedure for a false witness; Proverbs 19:5 states the consequence in aphoristic form; Psalms 101:5 places the prohibition in the king's own self-governance.
Why it lands — The command targets the act of transmission, not merely the origin of the lie: it forbids you from becoming the carrier. It asks a reader to refuse the small, routine act of passing along what is unverified, especially when doing so costs another person.
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
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Cross-references
- Psalms 101:5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.
- 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,
- Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Matthew 26:59 Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.
- Leviticus 19:16 You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 5:20 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Psalms 35:11 Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
- Romans 3:8 Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!
- Proverbs 19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who pours out lies will perish.