Ulangan 5:20

5:20 You must not offer false testimony against another. ¹ 

Ulangan 19:16-21

19:16 If a false ²  witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime, ³  19:17 then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges ⁴  who will be in office in those days. 19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, ⁵  19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge ⁶  evil from among you. 19:20 The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you. 19:21 You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot. ⁷ 

Ulangan 19:1

Laws Concerning Manslaughter

19:1 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he ⁸  is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses,

Kisah Para Rasul 21:10-13

21:10 While we remained there for a number of days, ⁹  a prophet named Agabus ¹⁰  came down from Judea. 21:11 He came ¹¹  to us, took ¹²  Paul’s belt, ¹³  tied ¹⁴  his own hands and feet with it, ¹⁵  and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over ¹⁶  to the Gentiles.’” 21:12 When we heard this, both we and the local people ¹⁷  begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 21:13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking ¹⁸  my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, ¹⁹  but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Mazmur 27:12

27:12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, ²⁰ 

for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. ²¹ 

Mazmur 35:11

35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, ²² 

and falsely accuse me. ²³ 

Amsal 6:19

6:19 a false witness who pours out lies, ²⁴ 

and a person who spreads discord ²⁵  among family members. ²⁶ 

Amsal 12:17

12:17 The faithful witness ²⁷  tells what is right, ²⁸ 

but a false witness ²⁹  speaks ³⁰  deceit.

Amsal 19:5

19:5 A false witness ³¹  will not go unpunished,

and the one who spouts out ³²  lies will not escape punishment. ³³ 

Amsal 19:9

19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished,

and the one who spouts out ³⁴  lies will perish. ³⁵ 

Amsal 19:28

19:28 A crooked witness ³⁶  scorns justice,

and the mouth of the wicked devours ³⁷  iniquity.

Amsal 21:28

21:28 A lying witness ³⁸  will perish, ³⁹ 

but the one who reports accurately speaks forever. ⁴⁰ 

Amsal 24:28

24:28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, ⁴¹ 

and do not deceive with your words. ⁴² 

Amsal 25:18

25:18 Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow, ⁴³ 

so is the one who testifies against ⁴⁴  his neighbor as a false witness. ⁴⁵ 

Matius 19:18

19:18 “Which ones?” he asked. Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,

Matius 26:59-61

26:59 The ⁴⁶  chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 26:60 But they did not find anything, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally ⁴⁷  two came forward 26:61 and declared, “This man ⁴⁸  said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

Lukas 3:14

3:14 Then some soldiers ⁴⁹  also asked him, “And as for us – what should we do?” ⁵⁰  He told them, “Take money from no one by violence ⁵¹  or by false accusation, ⁵²  and be content with your pay.”

Lukas 19:8

19:8 But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give ⁵³  to the poor, and if ⁵⁴  I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!”

Kisah Para Rasul 6:11-13

6:11 Then they secretly instigated ⁵⁵  some men to say, “We have heard this man ⁵⁶  speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 6:12 They incited the people, the ⁵⁷  elders, and the experts in the law; ⁵⁸  then they approached Stephen, ⁵⁹  seized him, and brought him before the council. ⁶⁰  6:13 They brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop saying things against this holy place ⁶¹  and the law. ⁶² 

Efesus 4:25

4:25 Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, ⁶³  for we are members of one another.

Efesus 4:2

4:2 with all humility and gentleness, ⁶⁴  with patience, bearing with ⁶⁵  one another in love,

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

Titus 3:1

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ⁶⁶  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Pengkhotbah 3:16

The Problem of Injustice and Oppression

3:16 I saw something else on earth: ⁶⁷ 

In the place of justice, there was wickedness,

and in the place of fairness, ⁶⁸  there was wickedness.

Wahyu 12:10

12:10 Then ⁶⁹  I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,

“The salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the ruling authority ⁷⁰  of his Christ, ⁷¹  have now come,

because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, ⁷² 

the one who accuses them day and night ⁷³  before our God,

has been thrown down.

[5:20]  ¹ tn Heb “your neighbor.” Clearly this is intended generically, however, and not to be limited only to those persons who live nearby (frequently the way “neighbor” is understood in contemporary contexts). So also in v. 20.

[19:16]  ² tn Heb “violent” (חָמָס, khamas). This is a witness whose motivation from the beginning is to do harm to the accused and who, therefore, resorts to calumny and deceit. See I. Swart and C. VanDam, NIDOTTE 2:177-80.

[19:16]  ³ tn Or “rebellion.” Rebellion against God’s law is in view (cf. NAB “of a defection from the law”).

[19:17]  ⁴ tn The appositional construction (“before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges”) indicates that these human agents represented the Lord himself, that is, they stood in his place (cf. Deut 16:18-20; 17:8-9).

[19:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “his brother” (also in the following verse).

[19:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “you will burn out” (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).

[19:21]  ⁷ sn This kind of justice is commonly called lex talionis or “measure for measure” (cf. Exod 21:23-25; Lev 24:19-20). It is likely that it is the principle that is important and not always a strict application. That is, the punishment should fit the crime and it may do so by the payment of fines or other suitable and equitable compensation (cf. Exod 22:21; Num 35:31). See T. S. Frymer-Kensky, “Tit for Tat: The Principle of Equal Retribution in Near Eastern and Biblical Law,” BA 43 (1980): 230-34.

[19:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[21:10]  ⁹ tn BDAG 848 s.v. πολύς 1.b.α has “ἐπὶ ἡμέρας πλείους for a (large) number of days, for many days…Ac 13:31. – 21:10…24:17; 25:14; 27:20.”

[21:10]  ¹⁰ sn Agabus also appeared in Acts 11:28. He was from Jerusalem, so the two churches were still in contact with one another.

[21:11]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And coming.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The participle ἐλθών (elqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ¹² tn Grk “and taking.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more. The participle ἄρας (aras) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ¹³ sn The belt was a band or sash used to keep money as well as to gird up the tunic (BDAG 431 s.v. ζώνη).

[21:11]  ¹⁴ tn The participle δήσας (dhsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ¹⁵ tn The words “with it” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[21:11]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and will deliver him over into the hands of” (a Semitic idiom).

[21:11]  sn The Jews…will tie up…and will hand him over. As later events will show, the Jews in Jerusalem did not personally tie Paul up and hand him over to the Gentiles, but their reaction to him was the cause of his arrest (Acts 21:27-36).

[21:12]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the people there.”

[21:13]  ¹⁸ tn The term translated “breaking” as used by Josephus (Ant. 10.10.4 [10.207]) means to break something into pieces, but in its only NT use (it is a hapax legomenon) it is used figuratively (BDAG 972 s.v. συνθρύπτω).

[21:13]  ¹⁹ tn L&N 18.13 has “to tie objects together – ‘to tie, to tie together, to tie up.’” The verb δέω (dew) is sometimes figurative for imprisonment (L&N 37.114), but it is preferable to translate it literally here in light of v. 11 where Agabus tied himself up with Paul’s belt.

[27:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”

[27:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.

[35:11]  ²² tn Heb “witnesses of violence rise up.”

[35:11]  ²³ tn Heb “[that] which I do not know they ask me.”

[6:19]  ²⁴ sn The Lord hates perjury and a lying witness (e.g., Ps 40:4; Amos 2:4; Mic 1:4). This is a direct violation of the law (Exod 20).

[6:19]  ²⁵ sn Dissension is attributed in Proverbs to contentious people (21:9; 26:21; 25:24) who have a short fuse (15:8).

[6:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “brothers,” although not limited to male siblings only. Cf. NRSV, CEV “in a family”; TEV “among friends.”

[6:19]  sn These seven things the Lord hates. To discover what the Lord desires, one need only list the opposites: humility, truthful speech, preservation of life, pure thoughts, eagerness to do good, honest witnesses, and peaceful harmony. In the NT the Beatitudes present the positive opposites (Matt 5). It has seven blessed things to match these seven hated things; moreover, the first contrasts with the first here (“poor in spirit” of 5:5 with “haughty eyes”), and the seventh (“peacemakers” of 5:7) contrasts with the seventh here (“sows dissension”).

[12:17]  ²⁷ tn The text has “he pours out faithfully”; the word rendered “faithfully” or “reliably” (אֱמוּנָה, ’emunah) is used frequently for giving testimony in court, and so here the subject matter is the reliable witness.

[12:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “righteousness.”

[12:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “witness of falsehoods.” The genitive noun functions attributively, and the plural form depicts habitual action or moral characteristic. This describes a person who habitually lies. A false witness cannot be counted on to help the cause of justice.

[12:17]  ³⁰ tn The term “speaks” does not appear in this line but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[19:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “a witness of lies.” This expression is an attributive genitive: “a lying witness” (cf. CEV “dishonest witnesses”). This is paralleled by “the one who pours out lies.”

[19:5]  ³² tn Heb “breathes out”; NAB “utters”; NIV “pours out.”

[19:5]  ³³ tn Heb “will not escape” (so NAB, NASB); NIV “will not go free.” Here “punishment” is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:5]  sn This proverb is a general statement, because on occasion there are false witnesses who go unpunished in this life (e.g., Prov 6:19; 14:5, 25; 19:9). The Talmud affirms, “False witnesses are contemptible even to those who hire them” (b. Sanhedrin 29b).

[19:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “breathes out”; NAB “utters”; NIV “pours out.”

[19:9]  ³⁵ sn The verse is the same as v. 5, except that the last word changes to the verb “will perish” (cf. NCV “will die”; CEV, NLT “will be destroyed”; TEV “is doomed”).

[19:28]  ³⁶ tn Heb “a witness who is worthless and wicked” (עֵד בְּלִיַּעַל, ’ed beliyya’al). Cf. KJV “an ungodly witness”; NAB “an unprincipled witness”; NCV “an evil witness”; NASB “a rascally witness.”

[19:28]  sn These are crooked or corrupt witnesses who willfully distort the facts and make a mockery of the whole legal process.

[19:28]  ³⁷ tn The parallel line says the mouth of the wicked “gulps down” or “swallows” (יְבַלַּע, yÿvala’) iniquity. The verb does not seem to fit the line (or the proverb) very well. Some have emended the text to יַבִּיעַ (yavia’, “gushes”) as in 15:28 (cf. NAB “pours out”). Driver followed an Arabic balaga to get “enunciates,” which works well with the idea of a false witness (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 529). As it stands, however, the line indicates that in what he says the wicked person accepts evil – and that could describe a false witness.

[21:28]  ³⁸ tn Heb “a witness of lies,” an attributive genitive.

[21:28]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “will perish” (יֹאבֵד, yo’bed) could mean that the false witness will die, either by the hand of God or by the community. But it also could be taken in the sense that the false testimony will be destroyed. This would mean that “false witness” would be a metonymy of cause – what he says will perish (cf. NCV “will be forgotten”).

[21:28]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “but a man who listens speaks forever.” The first part of it may mean (1) a true witness, one who reports what he actually hears. But it may also refer to (2) someone who listens to the false testimony given by the false witness. The NIV follows the suggestion of a homonym for the Hebrew word with the meaning “will perish/be destroyed”: “will be destroyed forever.” This suggests a synonymous pair of ideas rather than a contrast. Others accept antithetical parallelism. C. H. Toy suggested an idea like “be established” to contrast with “will perish” (Proverbs [ICC], 411). W. McKane suggested it meant the truthful witness “will speak to the end” without being put down (Proverbs [OTL], 556). It is simpler to interpret the words that are here in the sense of a contrast. The idea of speaking forever/to the end would then be hyperbolic.

[24:28]  ⁴¹ sn The legal setting of these sayings continues with this warning against being a false accuser. The “witness” in this line is one who has no basis for his testimony. “Without cause” is the adverb from חָנָן (khanan), which means “to be gracious.” The adverb means “without a cause; gratis; free.” It is also cognate to the word חֵן (“grace” or “unmerited [or, undeserved] favor.” The connotation is that the opposite is due. So the adverb would mean that there was no cause, no justification for the witness, but that the evidence seemed to lie on the other side.

[24:28]  ⁴² tn Heb “lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause; it means “what is said.” Here it refers to what is said in court as a false witness.

[25:18]  ⁴³ sn The first line identifies the emblem of the proverb: False witnesses are here compared to deadly weapons because they can cause the death of innocent people (e.g., Exod 20:16; Deut 5:20; and Prov 14:5).

[25:18]  ⁴⁴ tn The verb עָנָה (’anah) followed by the preposition בְּ (bet) with its object means “to testify against” (answer against someone). With the preposition לְ (lamed) it would mean “to testify for” someone. Here the false witness is an adversary, hence the comparison with deadly weapons.

[25:18]  ⁴⁵ tn While עֵד (’ed) could be interpreted as “evidence” (a meaning that came from a metonymy – what the witness gives in court), its normal meaning is “witness.” Here it would function as an adverbial accusative, specifying how he would answer in court.

[26:59]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “Now the.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:60]  ⁴⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:61]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “This one.”

[3:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “And soldiers.”

[3:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “And what should we ourselves do?”

[3:14]  ⁵¹ tn Or “Rob no one.” The term διασείσητε (diaseishte) here refers to “shaking someone.” In this context it refers to taking financial advantage of someone through violence, so it refers essentially to robbery. Soldiers are to perform their tasks faithfully. A changed person is to carry out his tasks in life faithfully and without grumbling.

[3:14]  ⁵² tn The term translated “accusation” (συκοφαντήσητε, sukofanthshte) refers to a procedure by which someone could bring charges against an individual and be paid a part of the fine imposed by the court. Soldiers could do this to supplement their pay, and would thus be tempted to make false accusations.

[19:8]  ⁵³ sn Zacchaeus was a penitent man who resolved on the spot to act differently in the face of Jesus’ acceptance of him. In resolving to give half his possessions to the poor, Zacchaeus was not defending himself against the crowd’s charges and claiming to be righteous. Rather as a result of this meeting with Jesus, he was a changed individual. So Jesus could speak of salvation coming that day (v. 9) and of the lost being saved (v. 10).

[19:8]  ⁵⁴ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text. It virtually confesses fraud.

[6:11]  ⁵⁵ tn Another translation would be “they suborned” (but this term is not in common usage). “Instigate (secretly), suborn” is given by BDAG 1036 s.v. ὑποβάλλω.

[6:11]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “heard him”; but since this is direct discourse, it is more natural (and clearer) to specify the referent (Stephen) as “this man.”

[6:12]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[6:12]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 4:5.

[6:12]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “approaching, they seized him”; the referent (Stephen) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:12]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “the Sanhedrin” (the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews). Stephen suffers just as Peter and John did.

[6:13]  ⁶¹ sn This holy place is a reference to the temple.

[6:13]  ⁶² sn The law refers to the law of Moses. It elaborates the nature of the blasphemy in v. 11. To speak against God’s law in Torah was to blaspheme God (Deut 28:15-19). On the Jewish view of false witnesses, see Exod 19:16-18; 20:16; m. Sanhedrin 3.6; 5.1-5. Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 may indicate why the temple was mentioned.

[4:25]  ⁶³ sn A quotation from Zech 8:16.

[4:2]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “meekness.” The word is often used in Hellenistic Greek of the merciful execution of justice on behalf of those who have no voice by those who are in a position of authority (Matt 11:29; 21:5).

[4:2]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “putting up with”; or “forbearing.”

[3:1]  ⁶⁶ tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[3:16]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[3:16]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “righteousness.”

[12:10]  ⁶⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[12:10]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “the right of his Messiah to rule.” See L&N 37.35.

[12:10]  ⁷¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[12:10]  ⁷² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The translation “fellow believer” would normally apply (L&N 11.23), but since the speaker(s) are not specified in this context, it is not clear if such a translation would be appropriate here. The more generic “brothers and sisters” was chosen to emphasize the fact of a relationship without specifying its type.

[12:10]  ⁷³ tn Or “who accuses them continually.”