Bible Strands
Proverbs 19:28
A corrupt witness mocks justice, and a wicked mouth swallows iniquity.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The book of Proverbs frames this saying as paternal instruction to a son, placed immediately after a warning about abandoning discipline and immediately before a declaration that judgments await mockers.
The words — The verse centers on בְּלִיַּעַל (beliyya'al), translated as worthlessness or corruption, to characterize the false witness, and יְבַלֵּעַ (yevla), meaning swallows up, to describe how the wicked mouth consumes iniquity.
The thread — The mouth consuming wickedness echoes Job 15:16, which states the corrupt drinks injustice like water, while Luke 18:2 presents a judicial figure who operates without fear of God or respect for people.
Why it lands — The text reports that corrupt testimony and unrighteous speech actively devour legal integrity, demanding that readers examine their own words and refuse to participate in compromised judgment.
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
An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity.
Cross-references
- Job 15:16 how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?
- Job 34:7 What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water?
- Luke 18:2 “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men.
- Acts 6:11 Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”
- 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.
- Job 20:12 Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue,
- 1 Kings 21:10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”
- Psalms 10:5 He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes.
- Psalms 10:11 He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
- Proverbs 15:14 A discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.