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Deuteronomy 19:16

in Deuteronomy 19

If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrong-doing,

KJV

If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;

This verse in Deuteronomy 19

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Testify against him that which is wrong - Margin, more literally, “a falling away.” The word is used Deu 13:5 to signify apostasy or revolt; here it is no doubt to be understood in the wider sense of any departure from the Law.

This site's exposition

If a false witness testifies against someone

on Deuteronomy 19:16-21

The case goes to the central court of 17:8-13. The liar suffers what “he intended to do to his brother”, so intent alone carries the penalty the lie aimed at.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

A safe witness - A single witness, though he speak truth, is not to be accepted for the condemnation of another man, but if he be convicted of false witness, this is sufficient for his own condemnation.

A commentator

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

proposed

If a false witness rise up against any man,.... In a court of judicature: to testify against him: that which is not true of him, let it be in what case it will; Aben Ezra instances in idolatry, but it holds good of any other.
If a false witness rise up against any man,.... In a court of judicature: to testify against him: that which is not true of him, let it be in what case it will; Aben Ezra instances in idolatry, but it holds good of any other.

The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • יָק֥וּםhe will stand

    yakumH6965 →628 times

  • עֵד־a witness of

    ʾed-H5707 →70 times

  • חָמָ֖סinjustice

    chamasH2555 →

  • בְּאִ֑ישׁin anyone

    beishH376 →1663 times

  • לַעֲנ֥וֹתto testify

    laanotH6030 →331 times

  • בּ֖וֹagainst <the> him

    bo

  • סָרָֽה׃rebellion

    sarahH5627 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 27:12

    Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 26:59–60

      Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 35:11

      Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 31:8

      You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.

    • Psalms 41:11

      By this I know that You delight in me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.

    • Acts 6:11–13

      Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

  • Through

    Psalms 35:11

    Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 27:12

      Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

    • 1 Samuel 24:9

      and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?

  • Through

    Acts 6:13

    where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

    it leads to

    • Acts 6:11

      Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.