The Ninth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness
by xAI Grok
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
(Exodus 20:16)
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
(Deuteronomy 5:20)
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
(Exodus 23:1)
Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
(Leviticus 19:11)
When Jesus listed the commandments He said:
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
(Matthew 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20)
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.
(Proverbs 19:5)
These six things doth the LORD hate… a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
(Proverbs 6:16-19)
The ninth word is a wall around a neighbour’s name. It forbids using your mouth as evidence against him when the evidence is a lie.
Lying and false witness
All false witness is a lie. Not every lie is false witness in the sense this commandment names.
False witness is a lie aimed at a neighbour where his name, case, or life is weighed. It is standing as if you saw what you did not see. It is swearing to what you do not know. It is joining wicked men to ruin a man with a story.
Naboth died that way. Jezebel set men of Belial to say, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king (1 Kings 21:10-13). The words were false. The form was testimony. The fruit was blood.
They sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; but found none. Many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together (Matthew 26:59-60; Mark 14:56-59).
Lying is any speech that is not true: to hide, to flatter, to boast, to sell, to keep a peace that is no peace. You can lie about your own sin. You can lie to God with your lips while your heart is far (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8). You may not say God said what He did not say. That is a lie that borrows His name.
False witness is lying plus accusation. Gossip that invents a charge is false witness in the street. “I heard” used as if it were “I saw” is the same sin in work clothes. You may not say, “I did not swear, so I may lie.” Leviticus still forbids lying one to another.
What Jesus taught
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
(Matthew 15:19)
That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
(Mark 7:20-23)
Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
(Matthew 5:37)
He kept the ninth word. He traced false witness to the heart, with theft and murder. He was Himself the mark of false witness. The devil is a liar, and the father of it (John 8:44).
When the hunted hid the truth
The Bible records men and women who concealed or misdirected a killer to keep life.
The midwives feared God and would not slay the sons. When Pharaoh asked why the boys lived, they said the Hebrew women are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them (Exodus 1:15-19). God dealt well with the midwives (Exodus 1:20-21). The text blesses their fear of God and the lives they kept.
Rahab hid the spies. She told the king’s men they had gone out (Joshua 2:4-6). Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 praise her faith, that she received the messengers and sent them out another way.
Michal let David down through a window and said he was sick (1 Samuel 19:11-17). A woman at Bahurim hid Jonathan and Ahimaaz in a well and said they were gone over the brook (2 Samuel 17:17-20). Jeremiah, at the king’s word, did not tell the princes the whole talk, lest he be sent back to die in the pit (Jeremiah 38:24-27).
Samuel feared Saul. The LORD said, Take an heifer, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD (1 Samuel 16:2). He did sacrifice. He also anointed David. The errand God named was true. It was not the whole errand.
These scenes are not a witness box against an innocent neighbour. They are murder already chosen at the door. Scripture does not turn that into a license to smear a name, invent a charge, or say God spoke what He did not speak. Abraham said Sarah was his sister so men would not kill him; trouble followed. That is not given as a rule.
Fear God first. Do not kill the child because Pharaoh said so. Do not hand the spy to Jericho. Do not use a holy story to hang a man.
How the commandment is broken
It is broken when you swear to what you did not see.
It is broken when you join a false report to harm a neighbour.
It is broken when you pass rumour as fact.
It is broken when you lie in court, in the gate, or on a page, to take a man’s name, land, or life.
It is broken when you say, Thus saith the LORD, and the LORD has not spoken.
It is broken when you keep a second story in the dark while your lips honour God.
Speak every man truth with his neighbour (Ephesians 4:25). Lie not one to another (Colossians 3:9).
In Closing
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. His name is not yours to spend. A lie used as evidence is blood-work. A lie used as a cloak for murder of the innocent is not the same scene, and still does not make untruth holy. Tell the truth. Do not weaponise a story. Do not put words in God’s mouth. The glory of truth is God’s. Do not steal it. Do not counterfeit it.
Do unto others, as you want them to do unto you.
Hallowed be thy name.
Faith Saterday Christian Related Salvation Faith Saterday Category