Proverbs 23:3

23:3 Do not crave that ruler’s ¹  delicacies,

for ²  that food is deceptive. ³ 

Proverbs 6:19

6:19 a false witness who pours out lies, ⁴ 

and a person who spreads discord ⁵  among family members. ⁶ 

Proverbs 14:5

14:5 A truthful witness ⁷  does not lie,

but a false witness ⁸  breathes out lies. ⁹ 

Proverbs 14:25

14:25 A truthful witness ¹⁰  rescues lives, ¹¹ 

but the one who breathes lies brings ¹²  deception. ¹³ 

Proverbs 19:5

19:5 A false witness ¹⁴  will not go unpunished,

and the one who spouts out ¹⁵  lies will not escape punishment. ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 19:9

19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished,

and the one who spouts out ¹⁷  lies will perish. ¹⁸ 

Proverbs 21:28

21:28 A lying witness ¹⁹  will perish, ²⁰ 

but the one who reports accurately speaks forever. ²¹ 

[23:3]  ¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the ruler mentioned in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:3]  ² sn The final line gives the causal clause: The impressive feast is not what it appears to be; the king is not doing you a favor, but rather wants something from you or is observing you (K&D 17:104); cf. TEV “he may be trying to trick you.”

[23:3]  ³ sn Verses 1-3 form the sixth saying about being cautious before rulers (cf. Instruction of Amememope, chap. 23, 23:13-18). One should not get too familiar with rulers, for they always have ulterior motives. The Mishnah cites Gamaliel as warning that a ruler only draws someone into his court for his purpose, but in their day of trouble he will not be there to help them (m. Abot 2:3).

[6:19]  ⁴ sn The Lord hates perjury and a lying witness (e.g., Ps 40:4; Amos 2:4; Mic 1:4). This is a direct violation of the law (Exod 20).

[6:19]  ⁵ sn Dissension is attributed in Proverbs to contentious people (21:9; 26:21; 25:24) who have a short fuse (15:8).

[6:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “brothers,” although not limited to male siblings only. Cf. NRSV, CEV “in a family”; TEV “among friends.”

[14:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “a witness of faithfulness.” The genitive functions in an attributive sense: “faithful witness” (so KJV, NRSV); TEV “reliable witness.”

[14:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “a witness of falsehood.” The genitive functions in an attributive sense: “false witness.”

[14:5]  ⁹ 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”).

[14:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a witness of truth”; cf. CEV “an honest witness.”

[14:25]  ¹¹ tn The noun נְפָשׁוֹת (nÿfashot) often means “souls,” but here “lives” – it functions as a metonymy for life (BDB 659 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 3.c).

[14:25]  ¹² tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity. Also possible, “is deceitful.”

[14:25]  ¹³ tc Several commentators suggest emending the text from the noun מִרְמָה (mirmah, “deception”) to the participle מְרַמֶּה (mÿrameh, “destroys”). However, this revocalization is not necessary because the MT makes sense as it stands: A false witness destroys lives.

[19:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “a witness of lies.” This expression is an attributive genitive: “a lying witness” (cf. CEV “dishonest witnesses”). This is paralleled by “the one who pours out lies.”

[19:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “breathes out”; NAB “utters”; NIV “pours out.”

[19:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will not escape” (so NAB, NASB); NIV “will not go free.” Here “punishment” is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “breathes out”; NAB “utters”; NIV “pours out.”

[19:9]  ¹⁷ sn The verse is the same as v. 5, except that the last word changes to the verb “will perish” (cf. NCV “will die”; CEV, NLT “will be destroyed”; TEV “is doomed”).

[21:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a witness of lies,” an attributive genitive.

[21:28]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew verb translated “will perish” (יֹאבֵד, yo’bed) could mean that the false witness will die, either by the hand of God or by the community. But it also could be taken in the sense that the false testimony will be destroyed. This would mean that “false witness” would be a metonymy of cause – what he says will perish (cf. NCV “will be forgotten”).

[21:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “but a man who listens speaks forever.” The first part of it may mean (1) a true witness, one who reports what he actually hears. But it may also refer to (2) someone who listens to the false testimony given by the false witness. The NIV follows the suggestion of a homonym for the Hebrew word with the meaning “will perish/be destroyed”: “will be destroyed forever.” This suggests a synonymous pair of ideas rather than a contrast. Others accept antithetical parallelism. C. H. Toy suggested an idea like “be established” to contrast with “will perish” (Proverbs [ICC], 411). W. McKane suggested it meant the truthful witness “will speak to the end” without being put down (Proverbs [OTL], 556). It is simpler to interpret the words that are here in the sense of a contrast. The idea of speaking forever/to the end would then be hyperbolic.