Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" (Biblical Hebrew: לֹא תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָׁקֶר, romanized: Lōʾ t̲aʿăneh b̲ərēʿăk̲ā ʿēd̲ šāqer) (Exodus 20:16) is one of the Ten Commandments,^[1]^[2] widely understood as moral imperatives in Judaism and Christianity.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The Book of Exodus describes the Ten Commandments as being spoken by God, inscribed on two stone tablets by the finger of God, broken by Moses, and rewritten by Yahweh on a replacement set of stones hewn by Moses.^[6]

The command against false testimony is seen as a natural consequence of the command to "love your neighbour as yourself". This moral prescription flows from the command for holy people to bear witness to their deity. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of covenant with God.^[7]

^ The number varies between religions."Counting the Ten Commandments", Bible Study Magazine, October 31, 2014
^ Exodus 20:1-21, Deuteronomy 5:1-23, Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale House, 1982 pp. 1174-1175
^ Posner, Richard A., How Judges Think, Harvard University Press, 2008, p. 322; Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale House, 1982 pp. 1174-1175
^ Bromiley, Geoffrey W., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1988, p. 117
^ Williams, J. Rodman, Renewal theology: systematic theology from a charismatic perspective, 1996 p.240; Making moral decisions: a Christian approach to personal and social ethics, Paul T. Jersild, 1991, p. 24
^ Deuteronomy 10:1–5
^ "Leviticus 19:18, Romans 13:9, Catechism of the Catholic Church 2464".

[1] The number varies between religions."Counting the Ten Commandments", Bible Study Magazine, October 31, 2014

[2] Exodus 20:1-21, Deuteronomy 5:1-23, Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale House, 1982 pp. 1174-1175

[3] Posner, Richard A., How Judges Think, Harvard University Press, 2008, p. 322; Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale House, 1982 pp. 1174-1175

[4] Bromiley, Geoffrey W., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1988, p. 117

[5] Williams, J. Rodman, Renewal theology: systematic theology from a charismatic perspective, 1996 p.240; Making moral decisions: a Christian approach to personal and social ethics, Paul T. Jersild, 1991, p. 24

[6] Deuteronomy 10:1–5

[7] "Leviticus 19:18, Romans 13:9, Catechism of the Catholic Church 2464".

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