Deuteronomy 19:18 · World English Bible
and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother,
A civilization stands or falls on whether words in the mouth of a witness can be trusted. The command to inquire diligently is a command to take the truth with deadly seriousness.
From the Clinical Psychology reading below.
The same verse, read by one tradition.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
A civilization stands or falls on whether words in the mouth of a witness can be trusted. The command to inquire diligently is a command to take the truth with deadly seriousness. A false accusation turns the machinery of justice into an instrument of murder. Careless judgment rots the ground.
The liar in the witness box attacks his brother and the whole order at once. When testimony can be faked without consequence, no one is secure, and the strong simply invent crimes for the weak. So the inquiry must be patient and merciless in its search. Guard the honesty of speech, or watch the world it holds together come apart.
Clinical Psychology lens
What have I said about someone this month that I could not prove?
Right speech means no lying, no speech that divides, no words that wound. Speech is treated as an action because it does what actions do.
If names are not accurate, language fails, and when language fails nothing gets done properly. A society runs on words meaning what they say.
He wrote that nothing is as shameful as a person who lies about another, since the liar is at war with the order that holds everyone together.
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Clinical Psychology