Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. I. First, WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT SENSES IN WHICH A MAN MAY BE SAID TO BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST HIS NEIGHBOUR. II. THE ENORMITY OF THE SIN OF BEARING FALSE WITNESS. The malignity of an offence arises either from the motives that prompted it or the consequences produced by it. The most usual incitement to defamation is envy, or impatience of the merit, or success of other; a malice raised not by any injury received, but merely by the sight of that happiness which we cannot attain. Calumnies are sometimes the offspring of resentment. When a man is opposed in a design which he cannot justify, and defeated in the prosecution of schemes of tyranny, extortion, or oppression, he seldom fails to revenge his overthrow by blackening that integrity which effected it. The consequences of this crime, whatever be the inducement to commit it, are equally pernicious. He that attacks the reputation of another, invades the most valuable part of his property, and perhaps the only part which he can call his own. (Bp. J. Taylor, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.WEB: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. |
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