Proverbs 19:5

A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 19:5. A false witness shall not be unpunished — Though he escape the observation and punishment of men, yet he shall not avoid the judgment of God. And he that speaketh lies — That accustoms himself to lying, either in giving evidence in courts of justice, or in common conversation; shall not escape — The righteous judgment of God, though he may flatter himself with hopes of impunity, for the Lord is jealous of his honour, and will not suffer his name to be profaned.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:3. Men run into troubles by their own folly, and then fret at the appointments of God. 4. Here we may see how strong is men's love of money. 5. Those that tell lies in discourse, are in a fair way to be guilty of bearing false-witness. 6. We are without excuse if we do not love God with all our hearts. His gifts to us are past number, and all the gifts of men to us are fruits of his bounty. 7. Christ was left by all his disciples; but the Father was with him. It encourages our faith that he had so large an experience of the sorrows of poverty. 8. Those only love their souls aright that get true wisdom. 9. Lying is a damning, destroying sin. 10. A man that has not wisdom and grace, has no right or title to true joy. It is very unseemly for one who is a servant to sin, to oppress God's free-men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The non-wisdom which, having brought about disasters by its own perverseness, then turns round and "fretteth," i. e., angrily complains against the Providence of God.

Perverteth - Rather, "overturneth," "maketh to fail."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. Compare Pr 19:9, where perish explains not escape here (compare Ps 88:9, 10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Shall not be unpunished; though he escape the observation and punishment of men, yet he shall not avoid the judgment of God.

That speaketh lies; that accustometh himself to lying, either in judgment or in common conversation.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

A false witness shall not be unpunished,.... He that bears false witness against his neighbour in an open court of judicature; though be may not be detected by men, and so escape the punishment due to such offenders by the laws of God and men; yet God, who knows all hearts and actions, will not suffer him to go with impunity; if not punished in this world, he shall be in the world to come; for bearing false witness, or perjury, is a grievous offence to God;

and he that speaketh lies shall not escape; even he that useth himself to lying in private conversation shall not escape the reproach of men; for nothing is more scandalous than lying; nor the wrath of God, such shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, Revelation 21:8.

Geneva Study Bible

A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. speaketh] Lit. breatheth out; and so in Proverbs 19:9 below.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - This verse is repeated below (ver. 9). It comes in awkwardly here, interrupting the connection which subsists between vers. 4 and 6. Its right place is doubtless where it occurs below. The Law not only strictly forbade false witness (Exodus 20:16; Exodus 23:1), but it enacted severe penalties against offenders in this particular (Deuteronomy 19:16, etc.); the lex talionis was to be enforced against them, they were to receive no pity: "Life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." He that speaketh lies shall not escape. The Septuagint confines the notion of this clause to false accusers, Ὁ δὲ ἐγκαλῶν ἀδίκως, "He who maketh an unjust charge shall not escape," which renders the two clauses almost synonymous. We make a distinction between the members by seeing in the former a denunciation against a false witness in a suit, and in the second a more sweeping menace against any one, whether accuser, slanderer, sycophant, who by lying injures a neighbour. The History of Susanna is brought forward in confirmation of the well deserved fate of false accusers.

Ψευδὴς διαβολὴ τὸν βίον λυμαίνεται.

"A slander is an outrage on man's life." Proverbs 19:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In Proverbs 19:5 and Proverbs 19:9 we have the introductory proverb of two groups, the former of which, in its close as well as its beginning, cannot be mistaken.

5 A lying witness remaineth not unpunished;

   And he who breathes out lies escapeth not.

Regarding יפיח, vid., vol. i, p. 148: as here we read it of false witness at Proverbs 6:19; Proverbs 14:5, Proverbs 14:25. לא ינּקה occurs four times before, the last of which is at Proverbs 17:5. The lxx elsewhere translates יפיח כזבים by ἐκκαίειν ψευδῆ, to kindle lies; but here by ὁ δὲ ἐκαλῶν ἀδίκως, and at Proverbs 19:9 by ὃς δ ̓ ἂν ἐκκαύσῃ κακίαν, both times changing only because ψευδής goes before, and instead of ψευδῆ, the choice of a different rendering commended itself.