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Proverbs 21:28 · World English Bible

Proverbs 21:28 Meaning A False Witness Will Perish

A false witness will perish. A man who listens speaks to eternity.

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What does Proverbs 21:28 mean?

Every mind is a witness, and it testifies to whichever teacher it has chosen. The false witness speaks for fear, and its testimony cannot last, because it reports a world of guilt and attack that was never real and so has nothing to stand on.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 21:28 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

Every mind is a witness, and it testifies to whichever teacher it has chosen. The false witness speaks for fear, and its testimony cannot last, because it reports a world of guilt and attack that was never real and so has nothing to stand on. What is built on illusion must fall away when the mind stops repeating it.

The one who first listens speaks with a steadiness that endures, for it has heard the quiet voice of love before it opens its mouth. A mind that hears truth first bears witness to what is real, and what is real does not perish, because it was never made up to begin with.

Witness: the mind reporting what it has chosen to see, either the fear it invented or the truth it received.

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 21:28 today

  1. Before you repeat a story about someone today, ask yourself whether you heard it or only heard about it. If it is secondhand, let it stop with you.
  2. In your next real conversation, wait until the other person is fully finished and then say back what you heard before you answer. You will find out how much you were about to invent.
  3. When you are asked for your take on something you do not actually know, say you do not know yet. Then go find out, and answer later.

Which of the things you say most often did you ever actually check?

The same truth in other traditions

Tao Te Ching 81

True words are not showy and showy words are not true. What is accurate rarely needs volume.

Buddhism · Right Speech

Speak what is true and timely, and let silence hold the rest. A false account repeated loudly still collapses, because nothing under it is real.

Stoicism · Epictetus

First learn, then speak. Opinions announced before understanding are the ones you will spend years walking back.

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