What Does Proverbs 6:19 Mean?
A false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sends out strife among brothers.
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 that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.THE KEY
The hidden movement is transmission: a witness gives falsehood voice, then contention is sent into the space between siblings.
THE MEANING
A false account enters conversation, and contention is sent into the space between kin. What begins as spoken falsehood becomes division within their shared bond.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that discord always appears on its own or that a false report is harmless once spoken: speech can carry conflict into a relationship.
THE ROOT
מְשַׁלֵּחַ
məšallēaḥ
GROWS FROM
שׁלח
sh-l-ḥ
Send forth, release, let go, stretch out the hand.
“sends out” in this verse is məšallēaḥ. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of sending out disputes, so the harm is active transmission: contention is released into the space between siblings. This root also carries sending that can extend provision or restoration; here, what is sent is division.
ALSO GROWS
shalach: To send forth, release, or let go.
שָׁלַח
This is the root verb in the verse: contention is sent into a relationship.
Shiloach: The name of the waters of Shiloah; in John 9:7, Siloam is interpreted as “Sent.”
שִׁלֹחַ
A sending can carry restoration; here the same movement carries disputes.
shulchan: A table, where provision is laid out and extended.
שֻׁלְחָן
The root’s reach can serve nourishment; the verse shows that what is extended between people can also be strife.
מְדָנִים
mədānîm
GROWS FROM
דין
d-y-n
Judge, contend, or bring a matter into dispute.
The strife word is linked with the language of judging and contending, giving the discord a disputing edge: one sibling is set against another. The verse describes contention entering the kinship itself, not merely a difference of opinion.
ALSO GROWS
dîn: A judgment or matter brought for decision.
דִּין
This branch links discord with contention over a matter between people.
mādôn: A word for contention or quarrelling.
מָדוֹן
This is the singular form related to the verse’s plural “discords,” showing how strife can multiply between people.
כְּזָבִים
kəzābîm
GROWS FROM
כזב
k-z-b
Lie, prove false, or fail.
“lies” in this verse is kəzābîm. The root can name both falsehood and failure, so the lie is speech that fails the trust it claims to carry. The same root appears in the promise of waters that do not fail, setting dependable provision against false testimony.
ALSO GROWS
kāzav: To lie, deceive, or prove false.
כָּזַב
This is the root behind the lies spoken by the false witness.
yəḵazzəvû: In Isaiah 58:11, this form appears in “whose waters fail not.”
יְכַזְּבוּ
The shared root connects lies with failure: false testimony cannot sustain the trust that reliable waters provide.
THE PATTERN
Words released into a community become forces that can divide its bonds or build them up.
A man of twistings sends out strife, and a whisperer splits apart the closest friends.Even so the tongue is a small limb, and it lifts its neck over great things. Look how great a forest a little fire kindles!Let no rotten word come out of your mouth, but whatever is good for building up where there is need, that it may give favor to those who hear.THE THREAD
A man of twistings sends out strife, and a whisperer splits apart the closest friends.This verse pairs the same sending root, שׁלח (shalach, “send forth”), with מָדוֹן (madon, “strife”), the noun related to the discord here. The repeated pairing makes the movement clear: division is sent into relationships.
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