What Biblical scriptures speak about lying being wrong?

SolitaryRoad.com

Website owner:  James Miller

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Info ] [ Mail ]

ChatGpt question. What scriptures speak about lying being wrong?

Answer. The Bible speaks very clearly about lying and falsehood. Here are some of the most direct passages:

Old Testament

Exodus 20:16 — The Ninth Commandment

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

— Exodus 20:16 (KJV)

This prohibits giving false testimony against another person.

Leviticus 19:11

“Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.”

— Leviticus 19:11

This is one of the clearest statements: God explicitly commands His people not to lie to one another.

Proverbs 12:22

“Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

Proverbs 6:16–19

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

... A lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

A false witness that speaketh lies...”

Notice that lying is specifically listed among things the Lord hates.

Proverbs 19:9

“A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.”

New Testament

Colossians 3:9

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.”

Ephesians 4:25

“Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.”

Paul connects abandoning lying with living as a new person in Christ.

John 8:44

Jesus describes the devil as the source of falsehood:

“He is a liar, and the father of it.”

This presents lying as fundamentally opposed to God's character.

Revelation 21:8

“...and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Revelation 22:15

“...and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”

A particularly important contrast

Titus 1:2 says of God:

“God, that cannot lie...”

And Numbers 23:19 says:

“God is not a man, that he should lie...”

So the biblical teaching isn't merely that lying is socially undesirable. Truthfulness is associated with God's own character, while lying is associated with evil and Satan.

One interesting question that comes up when studying this subject is whether the Bible considers every false statement a "lie," or whether there are circumstances—such as protecting an innocent person—where concealing the truth is treated differently. There are several biblical examples that make that a worthwhile distinction to examine.

What are they?

There are several biblical situations where someone conceals the truth or gives a misleading answer, and some of them are presented positively. This makes the biblical teaching more nuanced than simply "never say anything that isn't literally true."

1. The Hebrew midwives — Exodus 1:15–21

Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill newborn Hebrew boys. They refused. When Pharaoh questioned them, they told him:

“Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.”

— Exodus 1:19

God then says:

“Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.”

— Exodus 1:20

The passage does not condemn the midwives for their answer; instead, it says God dealt well with them.

2. Rahab hides the spies — Joshua 2

Rahab hid Israelite spies from the king of Jericho. When the king's men came looking for them, she said:

“There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were.”

— Joshua 2:4

She then sent the soldiers in the wrong direction.

Rahab is subsequently commended in the New Testament:

“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.”

— Hebrews 11:31

And James says:

“Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?”

— James 2:25

3. David pretends to be insane — 1 Samuel 21:10–15

David was fleeing King Saul and went to the Philistine city of Gath. To protect himself, David pretended to be insane, acting as though he were mentally unstable.

The king eventually said:

“Lo, ye see a man mad: wherefore have ye brought him to me?”

— 1 Samuel 21:14

David was therefore released.

The Bible doesn't explicitly say that God approved of David's deception, but neither does the passage condemn him for it.

4. Elisha's unusual answer — 2 Kings 6:18–19

When the Syrian army came looking for the prophet Elisha, he prayed that God would blind them. Then he told them:

“This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek.”

He then led the blinded army into Samaria, where they discovered that they were surrounded by Israel's forces.

Again, the account does not present Elisha's statement as ordinary lying for personal advantage. It occurs in the context of protecting God's people from an attacking army.

The important distinction

These stories raise an important biblical distinction between:

● Lying for selfish purposes — condemned repeatedly.

● Bearing false witness against an innocent person — condemned.

● Deception used to protect innocent people from someone intending harm — several biblical examples are presented without condemnation and, in Rahab's case, with explicit commendation for her actions.

_____________________________________________________________________________

I note that there is a difference between speaking a lie (knowingly speaking an untruth) and saying something that we believe to be true which is actually untrue. There are a great many things that many people believe to be true and state as fact that are actually untrue. These are not lies. No guile or dishonesty is involved. An honest man, however, takes the correctness of the things he says seriously. He doesn’t want to be guilty of asserting that a thing is true if it is not. He is careful about what he says, concerned that it be accurate and true. He knows that his reputation for being truthful and accurate is important. He is careful not to exaggerate, embellish or distort.

We live in a world of falsehood. A world in which most of the assertions that float around are totally false or are partial truths. This is particularly true in the realms of politics and religion. This is why an honest man is special in this world.

25 Aug 2026