20:16 “You shall not give 3 false testimony 4 against your neighbor.
23:1 5 “You must not give 6 a false report. 7 Do not make common cause 8 with the wicked 9 to be a malicious 10 witness.
19:11 “‘You must not steal, you must not tell lies, and you must not deal falsely with your fellow citizen. 11
“The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the ruling authority 13 of his Christ, 14 have now come,
because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, 15
the one who accuses them day and night 16 before our God,
has been thrown down.
1 sn Zacchaeus was a penitent man who resolved on the spot to act differently in the face of Jesus’ acceptance of him. In resolving to give half his possessions to the poor, Zacchaeus was not defending himself against the crowd’s charges and claiming to be righteous. Rather as a result of this meeting with Jesus, he was a changed individual. So Jesus could speak of salvation coming that day (v. 9) and of the lost being saved (v. 10).
2 tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text. It virtually confesses fraud.
3 tn Heb “answer” as in a court of law.
4 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).
5 sn People who claim to worship and serve the righteous judge of the universe must preserve equity and justice in their dealings with others. These verses teach that God’s people must be honest witnesses (1-3); God’s people must be righteous even with enemies (4-5); and God’s people must be fair in dispensing justice (6-9).
6 tn Heb “take up, lift, carry” (נָשָׂא, nasa’). This verb was also used in the prohibition against taking “the name of Yahweh in vain.” Sometimes the object of this verb is physical, as in Jonah 1:12 and 15. Used in this prohibition involving speech, it covers both originating and repeating a lie.
7 tn Or “a groundless report” (see Exod 20:7 for the word שָׁוְא, shav’).
8 tn Heb “do not put your hand” (cf. KJV, ASV); NASB “join your hand.”
9 tn The word “wicked” (רָשָׁע, rasha’) refers to the guilty criminal, the person who is doing something wrong. In the religious setting it describes the person who is not a member of the covenant and may be involved in all kinds of sin, even though there is the appearance of moral and spiritual stability.
10 tn The word חָמָס (khamas) often means “violence” in the sense of social injustices done to other people, usually the poor and needy. A “malicious” witness would do great harm to others. See J. W. McKay, “Exodus 23:1-43, 6-8: A Decalogue for Administration of Justice in the City Gate,” VT 21 (1971): 311-25.
11 tn Heb “you shall not deal falsely a man with his fellow citizen.”
12 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
13 tn Or “the right of his Messiah to rule.” See L&N 37.35.
14 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
15 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The translation “fellow believer” would normally apply (L&N 11.23), but since the speaker(s) are not specified in this context, it is not clear if such a translation would be appropriate here. The more generic “brothers and sisters” was chosen to emphasize the fact of a relationship without specifying its type.
16 tn Or “who accuses them continually.”