Text -- Exodus 20:16 (NET)

20:16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Exo 20:16

¹ tn Heb “answer” as in a court of law.

² tn The expression עֵד שָׁקֶר (’ed shaqer) means “a lying witness” (B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 388). In this verse the noun is an adverbial accusative, “you will not answer as a lying witness.” The prohibition is against perjury. While the precise reference would be to legal proceedings, the law probably had a broader application to lying about other people in general (see Lev 5:1; Hos 4:2).