What Does Proverbs 19:5 Mean in the King James?
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse closes two exits at once: the liar cannot be cleared as clean or slip away.
THE MEANING
False testimony does not leave its speaker clean, and the one who gives lies voice does not slip beyond consequence. The paired lines shut two doors at once: being cleared and escaping.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a lie can be spoken and leave its speaker untouched or beyond reach.
THE ROOT
יִנָּקֶה
yinnaqeh
GROWS FROM
נקה
naqah
Be clean, be clear, or be free from guilt.
The word translated “unpunished” carries the sense of being cleared or left clean. The verse says the false witness cannot come out of the lie with that cleanness.
ALSO GROWS
naqiy: Clean, innocent.
נָקִי
This branch makes the verse’s image of a false witness unable to emerge innocent more visible.
niqqah: To clear or acquit.
נִקָּה
This branch echoes the verdict the verse denies: the witness is not cleared.
שְׁקָרִים
sheqarim
GROWS FROM
שקר
shaqar
Deal falsely, deceive, or lie.
The first line describes more than an inaccurate account: its word for “false” points to deceitful dealing. The verse places that deception in testimony and then pairs it with lies spoken aloud.
ALSO GROWS
sheqer: Falsehood, lie.
שֶׁקֶר
This branch names the false content carried by the witness.
shaqar: To lie or deal falsely.
שָׁקַר
This verb shows false testimony as an act of deception, not merely a mistaken statement.
יִמָּלֵט
yimmalet
GROWS FROM
מלט
malat
Slip away, escape, or be delivered.
“escape” in this verse is yimmalet. The second line adds another closed exit: the speaker of lies cannot slip free. Beside the denial of being cleared, this makes the consequence complete.
ALSO GROWS
nimlat: Escaped, slipped free.
נִמְלַט
This branch names the escape the verse says the liar will not achieve.
milleṭ: Rescued or delivered.
מִלֵּט
This branch shows the root can describe being brought out of danger, while this verse denies the liar that release.
THE PATTERN
Falsehood cannot secure a clean exit: it meets exposure, exclusion, or judgment.
And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.THE THREAD
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.The Hebrew word translated “unpunished” in Proverbs shares its root with “clear” here. The root brings the connection into view: the false witness is not cleared as clean.
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