You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.
There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst.
Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron; all of them act corruptly.
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,
who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
And set two worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” And the men of his city, the elders and the leaders who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. As it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, they proclaimed a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. And the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him. And the worthless men brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,
heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.
but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”
But, to detain you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly. For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him. By examining him yourself you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.” The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so.
saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.