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I. AN INSTINCT TO THE RIGHTEOUS. "A righteous man hateth lying." A soul that has been made right in relation to the laws of its own spiritual being to the universe and to God has an instinctive repugnance to falsehood. A right-hearted man cannot be false in speech or life. The prayer of his soul is, "Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me Thy law graciously" (Psalm 119:29).

II. MORAL TRUTHFULNESS IS A SAFEGUARD AGAINST EVIL. The evils specified in these two verses in connection with the wicked must be regarded as kept off from the righteous by his moral truthfulness. What are the evils here implied connected with falsehood?

1. Loathsomeness. "A wicked man is loathsome." A liar is an unlovely and an unlovable object; he is detestable; he attracts none; he repels all.

2. Shame. He "cometh to shame." A liar either in lip, or life, or both, must come to shame. A rigorous destiny will strip off his mask, and leave him exposed, a hideous hypocrite, to the scorn of men and angels.

3. Destruction. "Wickedness overthroweth the sinner." Inevitable destruction is the doom of the false. They have built their houses on the sand of fiction, and the storms of reality will lay them in ruins. From all these evils, moral truthfulness guards the righteous.

(D. Thomas, D.D.)

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KJV: A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.

WEB: A righteous man hates lies, but a wicked man brings shame and disgrace.