Proverbs 19:28 · World English Bible
Proverbs 19:28 Meaning A Corrupt Witness Mocks Justice
A corrupt witness mocks justice, and the mouth of the wicked gulps down iniquity.
What does Proverbs 19:28 mean?
A false witness is the mind testifying against its brother, and what it scorns is the true seeing that would clear him. Fear delights in the report of wrong, feeding on the evidence of guilt as though it were bread, because every accusation it swallows seems to prove the separation real and the self innocent by contrast.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 19:28 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
A false witness is the mind testifying against its brother, and what it scorns is the true seeing that would clear him. Fear delights in the report of wrong, feeding on the evidence of guilt as though it were bread, because every accusation it swallows seems to prove the separation real and the self innocent by contrast.
Yet the guilt it feeds upon is its own, merely dressed in another's name. A mind that hungers for others' faults is starving for a peace it keeps refusing. The correction is to lay down the testimony of guilt and bear witness instead to the innocence that was always there.
Witness: the mind giving testimony about its brother, choosing whether to accuse him or to see him clear. Mouth: the appetite of the fearful mind, its craving to take in and hold the evidence of wrong.
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Christian Psychology lens
Live Proverbs 19:28 today
- When your mind starts the familiar case against someone today, stop it and name one thing that is true and good about them. Not as a trick. Just to see if you can still find it.
- In the group chat where someone absent gets discussed, say nothing against them, or say the one generous thing. You will feel how much appetite was waiting to be fed.
- When someone genuinely wrongs you, deal with the actual problem and skip the character verdict. Fix the thing, keep the person whole.
What would I have to feel in myself if I stopped collecting evidence against other people?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 49
The sage treats the dishonest as honest and the unkind as kind, and so leaves them room to become it. Seeing the fault as final is what fixes it in place.
Buddhism · Dhammapada
It is easy to see the faults of others and hard to see your own. The one who hunts for the specks in other eyes never finishes, and never looks home.
Sufism · Rumi
The fault you see so clearly in another is a mirror you are holding at arm's length. Look at who is holding it.
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