What Does Proverbs 19:9 Mean?
A false witness does not come away clear, and the one who breathes out lies loses the way.
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
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.THE KEY
The false witness and the liar meet at the same end: the false word used against another becomes the speaker’s own loss.
THE MEANING
False testimony and spoken lies do not remain outside the speaker’s life; they lead toward being lost. The verse holds both the person who bears false witness and the person who speaks lies under one verdict: neither stands beyond consequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A lie only harms its target, leaving the person who speaks it untouched.
THE ROOT
יֹאבֵד
yōʾvēd
GROWS FROM
אבד
ʾ-b-d
To perish, be lost, or be destroyed.
“loses the way” in this verse is yōʾvēd. English “perish” can sound only like a sentence imposed from outside. אבד (abad, perish or be lost) also carries the sense of loss: the liar’s end is not only a penalty but a state of being lost.
ALSO GROWS
ʾābad: To perish or be lost.
אָבַד
This verb gives the verse’s final word: the speaker of lies perishes.
ʾăvēdāh: A lost thing or loss.
אֲבֵדָה
This branch makes the root’s connection to being lost concrete.
ʾăvaddôn: Destruction.
אֲבַדּוֹן
The root reaches beyond disappearance to destruction.
כְּזָבִים
kəzāḇîm
GROWS FROM
כזב
k-z-b
To lie, be false, or prove false.
The Hebrew uses כזב (kazav, lie) for what is spoken, while the earlier phrase uses שקר (sheqer, falsehood) for the witness. English groups both under falsehood, but the verse gives testimony and spoken lies distinct roots, and brings both to one end.
ALSO GROWS
kāzāḇ: A lie or falsehood.
כָּזָב
This noun is the singular form of the lies named in the verse.
kāzab: To lie or be false.
כָּזַב
The verb shows the action behind the false words.
עֵד שְׁקָרִים
ʿēd šəqārîm witness
GROWS FROM
שקר
š-q-r
Falsehood or deception; as a verb, to deal falsely.
“false witness” in this verse is ʿēd šəqārîm witness. The Hebrew calls him a witness of falsehoods: the falsehoods are the substance he testifies to. The next clause switches to כזב (kazav, lie), extending the warning from testimony against another to lies spoken more broadly.
ALSO GROWS
šeqer: Falsehood or a lie.
שֶׁקֶר
This noun names what the witness carries into testimony.
šāqar: To lie or deal falsely.
שָׁקַר
The verb branch connects falsehood to the act of bearing false witness.
THE PATTERN
Falsehood destabilizes life at every level: public testimony becomes unjust, lying speech cannot endure, and the speaker’s claimed walk contradicts truth.
You shall not lift up a false report; do not set your hand with the wicked to be a witness of violence.The lip of truth stands firm for the ages, but a lying tongue lasts only for a blink.If we say that we share in common with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not do the truth.THE THREAD
You cause to perish those who speak what fails. The LORD recoils from the man of blood and of deceit.Psalm 5:6 uses כזב (kazav, lie) for “leasing,” the same lie-root as Proverbs 19:9, and אבד (abad, perish or be lost) for “destroy,” the same loss-root behind “shall perish.” The two roots appear together there too: the falsehood is spoken, and destruction is its end.
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