Proverbs 6:19

Pro 6:19 A false witness [that] speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Ver. 19. A false witness that speaketh lies.] Heb., That blows abroad lies, - as with a pair of bellows; that vents them boldly and freely in open court, in the face of the country. These knights of the post can lend an oath for a need, as they did Jezebel against Naboth, and, like those in the history, will not stick to swear that their friend or foe was at Rome and Interamna both at once. God oft thundereth against such, to show his utter hatred of them, and hath threatened that the winged flying book, that is full of curses, within and without, shall overtake them ere they get home, and shall rest in the midst of their houses, to consume them with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof. {Zec 5:4}

And him that soweth discord.] {See Trapp on "Pro 6:14"} {See Trapp on "Pro 6:16"} Unity among brethren is fitly compared to a cable rope, which will not easily break; but if once cut asunder, it is hard to tie a knot upon it. What ill officers then are breedbates and boutefeus [firebrands]!

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sixth thing is perjury. A false witness that speaketh lies; literally, he that breathes out, or utters, lies as a false witness. So the Vulgate, proferentem mendacia testem fallacem. The Hebrew puakh is "to breathe," "to blow," and in the hiph. form, which is used here (yaphiakh, hiph. future), it is "to blow out" or" utter," either in a bad sense, as in the present instance, and in Pro_6:19 Pro_14:5 Pro_19:5, Pro_19:9; (cf. Psa_10:5 Psa_12:5) or in a good sense, "to utter the truth," as in Pro_12:17. Lies; Hebrew k"zavim, plural of kazav, "falsehood," "lying". (cf. Pro_21:25) A false witness (Hebrew, ed-k"zavim), as in margin, "a witness of lies." The expression, "as a false witness," as it appears in the original, is explanatory, and indicates the particular aspect under which the speaking of lies is regarded. Lying in its more general sense has been already spoken of in ver. 17. The vice which is here noted as odious to God is expressly forbidden in the moral code, "Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour". (Exo_20:16) But this, though the chief, is only one view of the case. Perjury may be employed, not only in ruining the innocent, but also in screen-tog the guilty. "Much hurt," says Muffet, in loc., " doth the deceitful and lying witness, for he corrupteth the judge, oppresseth the innocent, suppresseth the truth, and in the courts of justice sinneth against his own soul and the Lord himself most grievously." "He that speaketh lies as a false witness," again, may be the vile instrument in the hands of unscrupulous and inexorable enemies, as those employed against our Lord and Stephen. Perjury, too, destroys the security of communities. The shipwreck of society which it occasions may be seen in the frightful misery which ensued when the system of delatores was not only countenanced, but encouraged under the Roman empire. Truly speaking, he that lies as a false witness must be hateful to God. And he that soweth discord among brethren; the seventh and last thing in the enumeration, but not, as Delitzsch holds, the ne plus ultra of all that is hated of God. It closes, as in ver. 14, the series, but with the addition "among brethren;" thus emphatically stigmatizing the conduct of that man as diabolical who destroys the harmony and unity of those who ought to live together in brotherly affection, and who disturbs the peace of communities.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:19 A false witness perverts the truth in court or in everyday conversation.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, neighbors.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

speaketh--literally, "breathes out," habitually speaks (Psa 27:12; Act 9:1).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

19. See Pro_6:12; Pro_6:14 notes.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My son, keep thy father's commandment,.... These are not the words of David to Solomon continued from Pro 4:4; but the words of Solomon to his son; and not to his son only, in a strict natural relation, but to everyone that came to him for and put himself under his instruction; and to everyone that stood in such a relation to a religious father; for not the divine Being, the Father of all, is here meant, according to some Jewish writers; though the commandment no doubt is the commandment of God taught by godly parents; or such a system of precepts that is founded upon and agrees unto the revealed will of God, and which being so should be laid up and kept in the heart, and not forgotten; and should be observed and attended to and obeyed throughout the whole course of life, as if it was the commandment of God himself; and indeed it is no other than that which pious parents train up their children in the knowledge of, instil into them, and urge upon them the observance of;

and forsake not the law of thy mother; the same as before, and which is mentioned to show that the same respect is to be had to a mother as to a father, the commandment and law of them being the same, and they standing in the same relation; which yet children are apt to make a difference in, and while they stand in awe of their father and his precepts, slight their mother and her directions, which ought not to be. Some understand this of the congregation of Israel, as some Jewish writers; and others of the church of God, the mother of us all.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That speaketh lies, to wit, in judgment; whereby this differs from the former lying, Pro 6:17. Brethren; dear relations or friends.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

[one who] speaks Heb. יפיח, lit. he blows. This is an expression of speech since all speech is a product of the breath of the mouth.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.