“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
Parallel translations
- KJV Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
- BSB You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- NKJV ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- NASB ‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
- NLT “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. The ninth commandment protects truth and a neighbor's reputation.
Overview
God forbids lying, especially testimony that harms a neighbor in court or community. Truthfulness reflects the character of God, who cannot lie. This points to Christ, the truth, and calls his people to speak truth in love (John 14:6, Ephesians 4:25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Exod 20:16“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
- Exod 23:1“You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.
- Prov 19:9A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who utters lies shall perish.
- Prov 19:5A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who pours out lies shall not go free.
- Deut 19:16–21If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,
- 1 Kgs 21:13The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to death with stones.
- Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Prov 6:19a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 5:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.