Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 14:5

A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.

5. will utter ] uttereth, R.V., “Heb. breatheth out ” marg.; , LXX., in the sense of kindleth, bloweth into flame.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Pro 14:5

A faithful witness will not lie.

A true witness

Truth is beautiful, as well as safe and mighty. In the incident related below a boy twelve years old, with only truth as a weapon, conquered a smart and shrewd lawyer, who was fighting for a bad cause. Truth is the highest thing that man may keep, and the noblest child or man is he that keeps the truth ever between his lips. Walter was the important witness in a lawsuit. One of the lawyers, after cross-questioning him severely, said, Your father has been talking to you and telling you how to testify, hasnt he? Yes, said the boy. Now, said the lawyer, just tell us how your father told you to testify. Well, said the boy modestly, father told me that the lawyers would try and tangle me in my testimony; but if I would just be careful and tell the truth, I could tell the same thing every time. The lawyer didnt try to tangle that boy any more. (The Fireside News.)

Falsehood and flaw

What a flaw is in steel, what a foreign substance is in any texture, that a falsehood is to the character, a source of weakness, a point where under strain it may break. (Newman Smyth.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Will not lie, to wit, in common discourse and conversation, whereby he showeth his love to truth, and giveth assurance that when he is called to be a witness, he will be true and faithful.

But a false witness will utter lies; or, as the words lie in the Hebrew, and or but he that

will utter lies (that accustometh himself to lying) is or will be a false witness, when occasion requires it. Having debauched his conscience by daily lying, he is thereby prepared and disposed to false witness-bearing. Compare Pro 12:17.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. A faithful witness, c.onetested to be such.

utter liesor, “breatheout lies”that is, habitually lies (Pr6:19 compare Ac 9:1). Or thesense is, that habitual truthfulness, or lying, will be evinced inwitness-bearing.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

A faithful witness will not lie,…. For that would be contrary to his character as faithful; and as he will not witness to a falsehood upon oath in a court of judicature, so neither will he tell a lie in common conversation. This may be applied to Gospel ministers, who are witnesses of Christ; the Gospel they preach is a testimony concerning him, and they bear a faithful witness to the truth; nor will they, knowingly and willingly, deliver out a falsehood, or a doctrinal lie, since “no lie is of the truth”, 1Jo 2:21; the character of a faithful witness is given to Christ, Re 1:5; who is a “witness” of his father’s love and grace, of his mind and will, and of the doctrines of the Gospel relating to himself, and the method of salvation by him; and he is “faithful” to him that appointed him; nor can he nor will he lie, for he is “truth” itself;

but a false witness will utter lies; or “blow” e them out, and spread them abroad in great plenty; he will not stick to tell them, and, having no conscience, will utter them as fast as he can, with all boldness and confidence; for one that fears not to bear testimony to a falsehood upon oath, will not scruple to lie in common talk. Or the words, “nay” be rendered, “he that uttereth lies [will be] a false witness”; he that accustoms himself to lying, in his conversation with men in private company, will become a false witness upon occasion in a public court of judicature: such an one is not to be depended on; lesser sins lead to greater, lying to perjury. So false teachers, and the followers of the man of sin, speak lies in hypocrisy, doctrinal ones, which they are given up to believe; and such as do so are false witnesses, deceivers, and antichrist.

e “efflabit”, Montanus; “efflat”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Striking if also accidental is the frequency of the and in Pro 14:4. This is continued in Pro 14:5, where the collector gives two proverbs, the first of which commences with a word beginning with , and the second with one beginning with :

5 A faithful witness does not speak untruth;

But a lying witness breathes out falsehoods.

The right vocalization and sequence of the accents is ( with Tsere and the servile Mahpach, with Munach, because the following Athnach -word has not two syllables before the tone). As in 5a , so in 5b is the subject. Different is the relation of subject and predicate in the second line of the parallel proverbs, Pro 14:25, Pro 19:5. With 5a cf. , Pro 13:17; and regarding (one who breathes out), vid., at Pro 6:19; Pro 12:17.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

      5 A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.

      In the administration of justice much depends upon the witnesses, and therefore it is necessary to the common good that witnesses be principled as they ought to be; for, 1. A witness that is conscientious will not dare to give in a testimony that is in the least untrue, nor, for good-will or ill-will, represent a thing otherwise than according to the best of his knowledge, whoever is pleased or displeased, and then judgment runs down like a river. 2. But a witness that will be bribed, and biassed, and browbeaten, will utter lies (and not stick nor startle at it), with as much readiness and assurance as if what he said were all true.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Witness True and False

Verse 5-See comment on 6:12-19 and 12:17.)

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

5. A false witness will utter lies Better, he that breathes forth falsehood is a lying witness; that is, a man to whom falsehood is habitual will be apt to testify falsely when called as a witness. Hence the rule of courts of excluding the testimony of one who is not “a man of common veracity.” Compare Pro 12:17; Exo 20:16; Exo 23:1. Miller insists, contrary to the common opinion, that , ( ‘ hedh sheker,) means a deceived witness.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments