God’s Word Translation
Deuteronomy 5:20
20“Never avoid the truth when you testify about your neighbor.
Deuteronomy 5:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
- New International Version (NIV)“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"'And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Context of Deuteronomy 5:20
18“Never commit adultery. 19“Never steal. “Never avoid the truth when you testify about your neighbor. 21“Never desire to take your neighbor’s wife away from him. “Never long for your neighbor’s household, his field, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him.” 22These are the commandments the Lord spoke to your whole assembly on the mountain. He spoke in a loud voice from the fire, the cloud, and the gloomy darkness. Then he stopped speaking. He wrote the commandments on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
Read all of Deuteronomy 5Deuteronomy 5:20 word by word
וְלֹֽא־תַעֲנֶ֥ה בְרֵֽעֲךָ֖ עֵ֥ד שָֽׁוְא׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Deuteronomy 5:20
- Deuteronomy 19:16This is what you must do whenever a witness takes the stand to accuse a person falsely of a crime.
- Exodus 20:16“Never lie when you testify about your neighbor.
- Exodus 23:1⌞The Lord continued,⌟ “Never spread false rumors. Don’t join forces with wicked people by giving false testimony.
- 1 Kings 21:13The two good-for-nothing men came in and sat opposite him. In front of the people, these men accused Naboth of cursing God and the king. So the people stoned him to death outside the city.
- Proverbs 6:19a dishonest witness spitting out lies, and a person who spreads conflict among relatives.
- Proverbs 19:5A lying witness will not go unpunished. One who tells lies will not escape.
- Malachi 3:5“I will come to judge you. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, lying witnesses, and those who cheat workers out of their wages and oppress widows and orphans. I will also testify against those who deprive foreigners of their rights. None of them fear me,” says the Lord of Armies.
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 5:20
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6-21Verses 6-21 Compare Mark 10:19 and Paul Ephesians 6:2-3 deal similarly with the same subject. Speaker and hearers recognized, however, a statutory and authoritative form of the laws in question, which, because it was familiar to both parties, needed not to be reproduced with verbal fidelity. Deuteronomy 5:12-15 The exhortation to observe the Sabbath and allow time of rest to servants (compare Exodus 23:12) is pointed by reminding the people that they too…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 6-22Verses 6-22 There is some variation here from Ex 20 as between the Lord's prayer in Mt 6 and Lu 11. It is more necessary that we tie ourselves to the things, than to the words unalterably. The original reason for hallowing the sabbath, taken from God's resting from the work of creation on the seventh day, is not here mentioned. Though this ever remains in force, it is not the only reason. Here it is taken from Israel's deliverance out of Egypt; for that…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16-20Jesus mentioned these five commands when asked, “What good thing must I do to obtain eternal life?” (Matthew 19:17–19; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 6-206-20. I am the Lord thy God--The word "Lord" is expressive of authority or dominion; and God, who by natural claim as well as by covenant relation was entitled to exercise supremacy over His people Israel, had a sovereign right to establish laws for their government. [See on Ex 20:2.] The commandments which follow are, with a few slight verbal alterations, the same as formerly recorded (Ex 20:1-17), and in some of them there is a distinct reference to…Read the comment
Topics related to Deuteronomy 5:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries