Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 21:28 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" A false witness will perish. A man who listens speaks to eternity. "
Proverbs 21:28
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
26 There are those who covet greedily all day long; but the righteous give and don’t withhold.
27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination— how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!
28 A false witness will perish. A man who listens speaks to eternity.
29 A wicked man hardens his face; but as for the upright, he establishes his ways.
30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
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Here is the ruin of a false witness. A person who gives false evidence to favor one side or hurt the other, or who swears to something he knows is false, or at least does not know is true, will lose his good name if the lie is found out. A man may tell a lie in a moment of haste, but false testimony is different. It is given with care and solemn words, so it is a bold sin and deserves the loss of trust.
Even if the lie is never exposed, the false witness will still be ruined in the end. The punishment he called down on himself when he took the false oath will come on him.
Here is also the praise of the person who is careful and honest. He who hears, that is, obeys, God’s command to speak truth with his neighbor, and who says only what he has heard and knows to be true, speaks steadily and consistently. He does not keep changing his story. People trust him and listen to him to the end, and his witness wins the case while the false witness loses it.
Truth lasts. What is true remains true forever, and the lips that speak truth stand firm forever.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 21:1
"The king’s heart is in the LORD’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires."
Proverbs 21:2
"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts."
Proverbs 21:3
"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
Proverbs 21:4
"A high look and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin."
Proverbs 21:5
"The plans of the diligent surely lead to profit; and everyone who is hasty surely rushes to poverty."
Proverbs 21:6
"Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death."
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