Bible Strands
Psalms 50:20
You sit and malign your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the covenant-breaking Israelite who claims His law but practices deceit, immediately after the description of malicious speech in verse 19 and before His declaration of judgment in verse 21.
The words — תֵּשֵׁב (te.shev) means "you sit," indicating a settled posture, while תְדַבֵּר (te.daber) means "you speak," combined with תִּתֵּן דּוֹפִי (ti.ten dofi) to describe the active act of "giving a fault" or slandering.
The thread — The prohibition against kin-slander runs through Leviticus 19:16 and Proverbs 10:18, while the fulfillment of family betrayal under persecution is recorded in Matthew 10:21.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to confront how claiming religious identity while deliberately destroying family bonds through deceitful speech constitutes a direct violation of covenant loyalty.
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 sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
Cross-references
- Matthew 10:21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put 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.
- Proverbs 10:18 The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
- Psalms 31:18 May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.
- Matthew 5:11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
- Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God.
- Luke 22:65 And they said many other blasphemous things against Him.
- 1 Timothy 3:11 In the same way, the women must be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in all things.
- Titus 2:3 Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good.