What Does Exodus 20:16 Mean?
You shall not answer against your neighbor as a witness of falsehood.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for witness is tied to a root associated with repeating or affirming, so false testimony turns a claim into harm aimed at a neighbor.
THE MEANING
What you say about another person can shape how they are seen; this verse treats false testimony as harm done to a neighbor, not as harmless talk. The neighbor remains a person beyond the story told about them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A false account about someone is harmless when they are not in the room.
THE ROOT
עֵד
ʿēd
GROWS FROM
עוּד
ʿ-w-d
To return or repeat; by extension, to testify or affirm.
“witness of falsehood” in this verse is ʿēd. English “witness” can sound like a neutral role, but this word is associated with giving or affirming testimony. The verse puts the truth of the account at the center: an asserted claim becomes harm when it is false and aimed at a neighbor.
ALSO GROWS
ʿûd: To repeat, return, or testify.
עוּד
The witness word is associated with repeating or affirming an account, bringing the truth of what is said into focus.
hēʿîd: To testify or call as a witness.
הֵעִיד
This related verb makes witness an active act of testimony, not merely a role someone holds.
שֶׁקֶר
sheqer
GROWS FROM
שקר
š-q-r
To deal falsely or deceive; falsehood.
“witness of falsehood” in this verse is sheqer. The verse names the testimony itself as falsehood. The same root describes both the false claim and the act of dealing falsely, linking speech to the deception it carries.
ALSO GROWS
šiqqēr: To lie or deal falsely.
שִׁקֵּר
The verbal form links false testimony to the act of deception.
sheqarim: Falsehoods or lies.
שְׁקָרִים
The plural form shows the root extending from a false claim to lies in the broader sense.
THE PATTERN
Truthful testimony protects the neighbor, while false speech makes the neighbor its target.
A steady witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.He does not walk upon his tongue, does no harm to his neighbor, nor lifts up a taunt against his neighbor.He said to him, Which ones? And Jesus said, You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness.THE THREAD
A steady witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.Proverbs uses the same Hebrew word for “witness” and the same root for “falsehood” found in Exodus 20:16. It makes the contrast explicit: testimony’s force depends on whether the account holds to truth.
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