14:5 A truthful witness 1 does not lie,
but a false witness 2 breathes out lies. 3
1 tn Heb “a witness of faithfulness.” The genitive functions in an attributive sense: “faithful witness” (so KJV, NRSV); TEV “reliable witness.”
2 tn Heb “a witness of falsehood.” The genitive functions in an attributive sense: “false witness.”
3 sn This saying addresses the problem of legal testimony: A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness does lie – naturally. The first colon uses the verb כָּזַב (kazav, “to lie”) and the second colon uses the noun כָּזָב (kazav, “lie; falsehood”).