Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the Lord.”
Parallel translations
- WEB and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says Yahweh.
- KJV And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.
- BSB do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely, for I hate all these things,” declares the LORD.
- NKJV Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; And do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate,’ Says the Lord.”
- NASB Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these things are what I hate,’ declares the Lord.”
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 must not plot evil or love false oaths, for God hates these things. Inward integrity and honesty are required of God's people.
Overview
God forbids scheming harm against neighbors and swearing falsely, naming such sins as things 'I hate.' True worship guards the heart and the tongue, not merely outward ritual. The verse echoes chapter 7's emphasis that genuine devotion shows itself in love and truth toward others.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Prov 6:16–19There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:
- Mic 2:1–3Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.
- Ps 10:3For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings. He blesses the greedy, and condemns Yahweh.
- Jer 44:4However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.”
- 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 3:29Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you.
- Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
- Ps 5:5–6The arrogant shall not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity.
- Hab 1:13You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
- Jer 4:2and you shall swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.”
- Zech 5:3–4Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side.
- Matt 12:35The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.
- Prov 8:13The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
- Matt 15:19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.
- Zech 7:10Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’
- Matt 5:28but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
- Prov 6:14in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.
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Christ at the center
The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.
How Zechariah 8:17 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.