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Selected Verse: Proverbs 24:28 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Pr 24:28	Strong Concordance	Be not a witness [05707] against thy neighbour [07453] without cause [02600]; and deceive [06601] not with thy lips [08193].
	King James	Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Do not speak even truth needlessly against any, and never falsehood.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Do not speak even truth needlessly against any, and never falsehood.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Deceive not with thy lips - Better, wilt thou deceive with thy lips?

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Warning against unnecessary witnessing to the disadvantage of another: Never be a causeless witness against thy neighbour; And shouldest thou use deceit with thy lips? The phrase עד־חנּם does not mean a witness who appears against his neighbour without knowledge of the facts of the case, but one who has no substantial reason for his giving of testimony; חנּם means groundless, with reference to the occasion and motive, Pro 3:30; Pro 23:29; Pro 26:2. Other designations stood for false witnesses (lxx, Syr., Targ.). Rightly Jerome, the Venet., and Luther, without, however, rendering the gen. connection עד־חנם, as it might have been by the adj. In 28b, Chajg derives והפתּית from פּתת, to break in pieces, to crumble; for he remarks it might stand, with the passing over of into , for והפתּות [and thou wilt whisper]. But the ancients had no acquaintance with the laws of sound, and therefore with naive arbitrariness regarded all as possible; and Bttcher, indeed, maintains that the Hiphil of פתת may be הפתּית as well as הפתּות; but the former of these forms with could only be metaplastically possible, and would be הפתּית (vid., Hitzig under Jer 11:20). And what can this Hiph. of פתת mean? "To crumble" one's neighbours (Chajg) is an unheard of expression; and the meanings, to throw out crumbs, viz., crumbs of words (Bttcher), or to speak with a broken, subdued voice (Hitzig), are extracted from the rare Arab. fatâfit (faṭafiṭ), for which the lexicographers note the meaning of a secret, moaning sound. When we see והפתית standing along with בּשׂפתיך, then before all we are led to think of פתה [to open], Pro 20:19; Ps. 73:36. But we stumble at the interrog. ה, which nowhere else appears connected with ו. Ewald therefore purposes to read והפתּית [and will open wide] (lxx μηδὲ πλατύνου): "that thou usest treachery with thy lips;" but from הפתה, to make wide open, Gen 9:27, "to use treachery" is, only for the flight of imagination, not too wide a distance. On וה, et num, one need not stumble; והלוא, Sa2 15:35, shows that the connection of a question by means of ו is not inadmissible; Ewald himself takes notice that in the Arab. the connection of the interrogatives 'a and hal with w and f is quite common; (Note: We use the forms âwa, âba, âthûmm, for we suppose the interrogative to the copula; we also say fahad, vid., Mufaṣsal, p. 941.) and thus he reaches the explanation: wilt thou befool then by thy lips, i.e., pollute by deceit, by inconsiderate, wanton testimony against others? This is the right explanation, which Ewald hesitates about only from the fact that the interrog. ה comes in between the ו consec. and its perf., a thing which is elsewhere unheard of. But this difficulty is removed by the syntactic observation, that the perf. after interrogatives has often the modal colouring of a conj. or optative, e.g., after the interrog. pronoun, Gen 21:7, quis dixerit, and after the interrogative particle, as here and at Kg2 20:9, iveritne, where it is to be supplied (vid., at Isa 38:8). Thus: et num persuaseris (deceperis) labiis tuis, and shouldest thou practise slander with thy lips, for thou bringest thy neighbour, without need, by thy uncalled for rashness, into disrepute? "It is a question, âl'nakar (cf. Pro 23:5), for which 'a (not hal), in the usual Arab. interrogative: how, thou wouldest? one then permits the inquirer to draw the negative answer: "No, I will not do it" (Fleischer).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

Warning against unnecessary witnessing to the disadvantage of another:

Never be a causeless witness against thy neighbour;

And shouldest thou use deceit with thy lips?

The phrase עד־חנּם does not mean a witness who appears against his neighbour without knowledge of the facts of the case, but one who has no substantial reason for his giving of testimony; חנּם means groundless, with reference to the occasion and motive, Pro 3:30; Pro 23:29; Pro 26:2. Other designations stood for false witnesses (lxx, Syr., Targ.). Rightly Jerome, the Venet., and Luther, without, however, rendering the gen. connection עד־חנם, as it might have been by the adj.

In 28b, Chajg derives והפתּית from פּתת, to break in pieces, to crumble; for he remarks it might stand, with the passing over of into , for והפתּות [and thou wilt whisper]. But the ancients had no acquaintance with the laws of sound, and therefore with naive arbitrariness regarded all as possible; and Bttcher, indeed, maintains that the Hiphil of פתת may be הפתּית as well as הפתּות; but the former of these forms with could only be metaplastically possible, and would be הפתּית (vid., Hitzig under Jer 11:20). And what can this Hiph. of פתת mean? "To crumble" one's neighbours (Chajg) is an unheard of expression; and the meanings, to throw out crumbs, viz., crumbs of words (Bttcher), or to speak with a broken, subdued voice (Hitzig), are extracted from the rare Arab. fatâfit (faṭafiṭ), for which the lexicographers note the meaning of a secret, moaning sound. When we see והפתית standing along with בּשׂפתיך, then before all we are led to think of פתה [to open], Pro 20:19; Ps. 73:36. But we stumble at the interrog. ה, which nowhere else appears connected with ו. Ewald therefore purposes to read והפתּית [and will open wide] (lxx μηδὲ πλατύνου): "that thou usest treachery with thy lips;" but from הפתה, to make wide open, Gen 9:27, "to use treachery" is, only for the flight of imagination, not too wide a distance. On וה, et num, one need not stumble; והלוא, Sa2 15:35, shows that the connection of a question by means of ו is not inadmissible; Ewald himself takes notice that in the Arab. the connection of the interrogatives 'a and hal with w and f is quite common;

(Note: We use the forms âwa, âba, âthûmm, for we suppose the interrogative to the copula; we also say fahad, vid., Mufaṣsal, p. 941.)

and thus he reaches the explanation: wilt thou befool then by thy lips, i.e., pollute by deceit, by inconsiderate, wanton testimony against others? This is the right explanation, which Ewald hesitates about only from the fact that the interrog. ה comes in between the ו consec. and its perf., a thing which is elsewhere unheard of. But this difficulty is removed by the syntactic observation, that the perf. after interrogatives has often the modal colouring of a conj. or optative, e.g., after the interrog. pronoun, Gen 21:7, quis dixerit, and after the interrogative particle, as here and at Kg2 20:9, iveritne, where it is to be supplied (vid., at Isa 38:8). Thus: et num persuaseris (deceperis) labiis tuis, and shouldest thou practise slander with thy lips, for thou bringest thy neighbour, without need, by thy uncalled for rashness, into disrepute? "It is a question, âl'nakar (cf. Pro 23:5), for which 'a (not hal), in the usual Arab. interrogative: how, thou wouldest? one then permits the inquirer to draw the negative answer: "No, I will not do it" (Fleischer).

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Be not a witness - Do not be forward to offer thyself to bear testimony against a neighbor, in a matter which may prejudice him, where the essential claims of justice do not require such interference; and especially do not do this in a spirit of revenge, because he has injured thee before.

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⁵ Wilt thou set [05774] [05774] thine eyes [05869] upon that which is not? for riches certainly [06213] make [06213] themselves wings [03671]; they fly away [05774] [05774] as an eagle [05404] toward heaven [08064].

⁸ Behold, I will bring again [07725] the shadow [06738] of the degrees [04609], which is gone down [03381] in the sun [08121] dial [04609] of Ahaz [0271], ten [06235] degrees [04609] backward [0322]. So the sun [08121] returned [07725] ten [06235] degrees [04609], by which degrees [04609] it was gone down [03381].

⁹ And Isaiah [03470] said [0559], This sign [0226] shalt thou have of the LORD [03068], that the LORD [03068] will do [06213] the thing [01697] that he hath spoken [01696]: shall the shadow [06738] go forward [01980] ten [06235] degrees [04609], or go back [07725] ten [06235] degrees [04609]?

⁷ And she said [0559], Who would have said [04448] unto Abraham [085], that Sarah [08283] should have given children [01121] suck [03243]? for I have born [03205] him a son [01121] in his old age [02208].

³⁵ And hast thou not there with thee Zadok [06659] and Abiathar [054] the priests [03548]? therefore it shall be, that what thing [01697] soever thou shalt hear [08085] out of the king's [04428] house [01004], thou shalt tell [05046] it to Zadok [06659] and Abiathar [054] the priests [03548].

²⁷ God [0430] shall enlarge [06601] Japheth [03315], and he shall dwell [07931] in the tents [0168] of Shem [08035]; and Canaan [03667] shall be his servant [05650].

¹⁹ He that goeth about [01980] as a talebearer [07400] revealeth [01540] secrets [05475]: therefore meddle [06148] not with him that flattereth [06601] with his lips [08193].

²⁰ But, O LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], that judgest [08199] righteously [06664], that triest [0974] the reins [03629] and the heart [03820], let me see [07200] thy vengeance [05360] on them: for unto thee have I revealed [01540] my cause [07379].

² As the bird [06833] by wandering [05110], as the swallow [01866] by flying [05774], so the curse [07045] causeless [02600] shall not come [0935].

²⁹ Who hath woe [0188]? who hath sorrow [017]? who hath contentions [04079] [04066]? who hath babbling [07879]? who hath wounds [06482] without cause [02600]? who hath redness [02448] of eyes [05869]?

³⁰ Strive [07378] not with a man [0120] without cause [02600], if he have done [01580] thee no harm [07451].