Proverbs 12:19

12:19 The one who tells the truth ¹  will endure forever,

but the one who lies ²  will last only for a moment. ³ 

Matthew 26:73

26:73 After ⁴  a little while, those standing there came up to Peter and said, “You really are one of them too – even your accent ⁵  gives you away!”

Mark 14:70-71

14:70 But he denied it again. A short time later the bystanders again said to Peter, “You must be ⁶  one of them, because you are also a Galilean.” 14:71 Then he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about!”

Luke 22:59-60

22:59 And after about an hour still another insisted, ⁷  “Certainly this man was with him, because he too is a Galilean.” ⁸  22:60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” At that moment, ⁹  while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “a lip of truth.” The genitive אֱמֶת (’emet, “truth”) functions as an attributive adjective: “truthful lip.” The term שְׂפַת (sÿfat, “lip”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= lip) for the whole (= person): “truthful person.” The contrast is between “the lip of truth” and the “tongue of lying.”

² tn Heb “a tongue of deceit.” The genitive שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “deceit”) functions as an attributive genitive. The noun לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= tongue) for the whole (= person): “lying person.”

³ tn Heb “while I would twinkle.” This expression is an idiom meaning “only for a moment.” The twinkling of the eye, the slightest movement, signals the brevity of the life of a lie (hyperbole). But truth will be established (תִּכּוֹן, tikon), that is, be made firm and endure.

⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁵ tn Grk “your speech.”

⁶ tn Grk “Truly you are.”

⁷ tn Grk “insisted, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated here.

⁸ sn According to Mark 14:70 it was Peter’s accent that gave him away as a Galilean.

⁹ tn Grk “And immediately.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁰ tn A real rooster crowing is probably in view here (rather than the Roman trumpet call known as gallicinium), in part due to the fact that Mark 14:72 mentions the rooster crowing twice. See the discussion at Matt 26:74.