You sit and malign your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
Parallel translations
- WEB You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son.
- KJV Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
- NKJV You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son.
- NASB “You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son.
- NLT You sit around and slander your brother— your own mother’s son.
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
They slander even their own brother and their mother's son. They harm those closest to them.
Overview
The hypocrites' evil speech reaches its lowest point in slandering their own family members. Sin against the nearest relationships exposes the depth of their corruption. Such conduct flatly contradicts the love of neighbor that God's law requires and that Christ commands.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Matt 10:21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.
- Lev 19:16You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.
- Prov 10:18The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
- Matt 5:11Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
- Ps 31:18May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.
- Rev 12:10And 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.
- Titus 2:3Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good.
- 1 Tim 3:11In the same way, the women must be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in all things.
- Luke 22:65And they said many other blasphemous things against Him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 50:20 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.