"A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape."
Proverbs 19:5
“A false witness shall not be unpunished.”
This first part of this proverb looks into a court of law where a person has the opportunity to be a truthful witness and tell the court what he knows is relevant to the case on trial. If “a false witness” could lie with impunity, no one would see the need and be honest with his testimony to the court. “A false witness shall not be unpunished!” And the “false witness” must be punished!
“Justice depends upon it” [1] (EWC).
In God’s law, what is the punishment of a perjurer?
“A person who gave false testimony was to receive the same punishment as the accused (Deuteronomy 19:18–19)” [2] (FSB).
“When the judges carefully ask their questions, they might find that the witness lied against the other person. If the witnesses tell lies, you must punish them with the same punishment the other person would have received. In this way, you will remove this evil from your group” (Deuteronomy 19:18-19, HSB).
God binds every judge to do their best at being an impartial judge in their courts. However, no judge in an earthly court is omniscient as God, and they may miss some perjury in their court cases. But God will see to it that the perjurer is punished.
“One form of false friendship is to be a false witness in court (cf. v. 9; 14:25). Perjury, however, will eventually be punished (cf. 12:19; 21:28)” [3] (BKC).
The idea of being “unpunished” means to be “acquitted, or held innocent” [4] (Bullinger).
As the Bible teaches us, the honesty principle isn’t just for the courtroom, but each person needs to be a truth-teller all the time.
“This principle extends beyond the court of law into our daily life. God loves the truth and wants us to speak the truth” [5] (EWC).
“And he that speaketh lies shall not escape.”
The idea of the one who lies is that they “speak lies,” “pours out,” “breathe out,” or “spews out” their lies (see BKC [6]). This points out that the liar can’t stop with just a single lie. Once a liar, they are helpless to change into truth-tellers without God’s intervention. But bear in mind, a liar “will not escape.”
“He who speaks lies will not escape: Among men, sometimes the false witness and liars escape the discovery and penalty of their sin. With God, he who speaks lies will not escape. Jesus said our every word would be held to account (Matthew 12:36)” [7] (EWC).
Believers, we need to remember that, “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25), was written to believers, not the lost! Why is that verse necessary for believers? Because, sadly, believers lie. We will have to account for this sin at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Let’s take this sin of lying to the Throne of Grace, confess it, and ask our Lord to help us remove it for good!
Quote: “God sees to it that liars will not escape judgment (v. 9; 11:21)” [8] (CSB).
[1] EWC – David Guzik. Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] FSB, John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Pr 19:5.
[3] BKC, Sid S. Buzzell, “Proverbs,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 946.
[4] TCB – E.W. Bullinger. The Companion Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[5] EWC, ibid.
[6] BKC, ibid.
[7] EWC, ibid.
[8] CSB, David K. Stabnow, “Proverbs,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 982.