Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary
Deuteronomy 19:16
A single witness, though he speak truth, is not to be accepted for the condemnation of another man; but if he be convicted of false witness, this is sufficient for his own condemnation.
A single witness, though he speak truth, is not to be accepted for the condemnation of another man; but if he be convicted of false witness, this is sufficient for his own condemnation.
TESTIFY AGAINST HIM THAT WHICH IS WRONG - Margin, more literally, “a falling away.” The word is used Deuteronomy 13:5 to signify apostasy or revolt; here it is no doubt to be understood in the wider s...
DEUTERONOMY 19:14 TO DEUTERONOMY 25:19. Consists of miscellaneous laws having no apparent connexion with D's great law of the centralisation of worship. They deal with crime, war, marriage, family rel...
A FALSE WITNESS. Compare Exodus 23:1, and Deuteronomy 19:16....
BUT _if_ So Sam. LXX. _unrighteous witness_ Heb. _witness of violence_. So E, Exodus 23:1, and Psalms 35:11, apparently one who _forces_his evidence, does _violence_to the truth or intends _violence_...
Of Witnesses Two or three witnesses are necessary for a conviction (Deuteronomy 19:15). If a witness, forcing his evidence, accuse a man of defection from the law, the two shall stand before God in t...
_VER._ 16. _TO TESTIFY AGAINST HIM THAT WHICH IS WRONG_— That is, _to accuse him,_ to _lay any crime to his charge._ Houbigant tenders it very properly, _ut eum criminis accusat: that he may accuse hi...
(3) CONCERNING WITNESSES AND JUDGMENT (Deuteronomy 19:15-21) 15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses,...
_IF A FALSE WITNESS RISE UP AGAINST ANY MAN TO TESTIFY AGAINST HIM THAT WHICH IS WRONG;_ But if convicted of perjury, it will be sufficient for his own condemnation, and his punishment shall be exactl...
19:16 witness (c-4) Lit. 'witness of violence,'...
THE CITIES OF REFUGE. PUNISHMENT OF DECEIT AND FALSE WITNESS 1-13. On the Cities of Refuge see Numbers 35:9 and notes there....
DEUTERONOMY: GOD’S LAW OF LOVE LOVE AND OBEY THE *LORD YOUR GOD DEUTERONOMY _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 19 V1 ‘The *LORD your God will *destroy the nations whose country he is giving to you. You will...
Deuteronomy 19:15. FALSE TESTIMONY. The law of retaliation is sternly laid down here; but it must be administered by the judges, not by men acting on their own behalf. (17) BOTH THE MEN... SHALL STAND...
כִּֽי ־יָק֥וּם עֵד ־חָמָ֖ס בְּ אִ֑ישׁ לַ
THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF ISRAELITE LIFE IT has often and justly been said that the life of Israel is so entirely founded on the grace and favor of God that no distinction is made between the secular an...
Still with his mind on the fact that the people were coming into the land, Moses made further applications of the laws to the new conditions. His words now had to do with life and land and truth and j...
Transgression against the law, by apostacy or by idolatry, (Junius) or by any other grievous crime. The person accused might, in this case, be examined, but he could not be condemned unless another wi...
The wisdom of those laws is too obvious to need a comment; they have been already noticed: Numbers 35:30. But what a sweet thought is it to the believer's experience, that in divine things there are t...
It is clear that a new division of the statutes and judgments of this book begins with the later verses just read from Deuteronomy 16:1-22. What belonged to the religious life of Israel was closed wit...
16._If a false witness rise up against any man_. Because the fear of God does not so prevail in all men, as that they should voluntarily abstain from the love of slander, God here appoints the punishm...
THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 19, 20, AND 21. Chapter 19 opens with ordinances which contemplate the people in possession and enjoyment of the land; they were to observe them, that the la...
IF A FALSE WITNESS RISE UP AGAINST ANY MAN,.... In a court of judicature: TO TESTIFY AGAINST HIM: that which is not true of him, let it be in what case it will; Aben Ezra instances in idolatry, but i...
_One witness shall not rise up_ Or, _be established_, as the same word is rendered in the end of the verse; that is, shall not be accepted or owned as sufficient. _If a false witness rise up_ A single...
1 The Cities of refuge. 4 The priuiledge thereof for the manslayer. 14 The land-marke is not to be remooued. 15 Two witnesses at the least. 16 The punishment of a false witnesse. 1 WHEN the LORD t...
If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, as might happen where only a single witness is available and the charge is a very grave one, literally, one of fa...
PRECEPTS REGARDING WITNESSES...
CITIES OF REFUGE (vs.1-13) We have seen in Deuteronomy 4:41 that Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan as cities of refuge. Now Moses gives instructions to Israel that, when God should cut...
AGAINST: Or, falling away...
15-21 Sentence should never be passed upon the testimony of one witness alone. A false witness should suffer the same punishment which he sought to have inflicted upon the person he accused. Nor could...
"When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; thou shalt separate three cities...
Deuteronomy 19:16 false H2555 witness H5707 rises H6965 (H8799) man H376 testify H6030 (H8800) wrongdoing H5627
THE EVIDENCE REQUIRED BEFORE CONVICTION FOR A CRIME: THE PUNISHMENT OF FALSE WITNESSES (DEUTERONOMY 19:15). The section on justice and the governing of the land which began at Deuteronomy 16:18 now en...
CONTENTS: Cities of refuge; landmarks, witnesses. CHARACTERS: God, Moses. CONCLUSION: God would possess men with a great horror and dread of the sin of killing another, even by chance. If by willful...
Deuteronomy 19:14. _Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark._ This prohibition was salutary in preserving the public peace; it also extended to the removal of the boundaries between the tribes,...
DEUTERONOMY—NOTE ON DEUTERONOMY 19:16 In disputed legal cases, the issue is taken to the central sanctuary, BEFORE THE LORD ...
CRITICAL NOTES.—This and the next two Chapter s contain enactments designed to protect human life, and to impress its sanctity on Israel.—_Speak. Com_. With Deuteronomy 19:1 _cf_. Exodus 21:13, and Nu...
EXPOSITION LAWS CONCERNING CITIES OF REFUGE. LANDMARKS NOT TO BE REMOVED. LAWS CONCERNING WITNESSES. DEUTERONOMY 19:1 Moses had be
Now in the nineteenth chapter again, they are told to establish the cities of refuge; three of them when they come into the land. Three had already been established on the other side of Jordan. But wh...
1 Kings 21:10; Acts 6:13; Exodus 23:1; Mark 14:55; Psalms 27:12;...
A safe witness — A single witness, though he speak truth, is not to be accepted for the condemnation of another man, but if he be convicted of false witness, this is sufficient for his own condemnatio...