Proverbs 25:18 · World English Bible
Proverbs 25:18 Meaning A Man Who Gives False Testimony Against
A man who gives false testimony against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, or a sharp arrow.
What does Proverbs 25:18 mean?
To testify against a brother is to strike, and the mind rarely sees that the blow lands first on the one who swings it. Every accusation is an attempt to place outside, in someone else, the guilt a mind will not look at within, and so the false witness wounds by insisting on a wrong that was never real.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 25:18 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
To testify against a brother is to strike, and the mind rarely sees that the blow lands first on the one who swings it. Every accusation is an attempt to place outside, in someone else, the guilt a mind will not look at within, and so the false witness wounds by insisting on a wrong that was never real.
The weapons named are only the many faces of a single choice, the choice to see attack where innocence stands. A mind that lays these down does not lose its safety; it discovers that it was never in danger, and that the brother it feared was its own guilt wearing a borrowed face.
Thy neighbour: the brother the mind is tempted to condemn, seen as guilty only because the mind has cast its own fear onto him. A maul, a sword, a sharp arrow: the forms of attack thought takes, the many weapons of a single judgment that wounds the one who wields it first.
Christian Psychology lensGo deeper in the app
Christian Psychology lens
Live Proverbs 25:18 today
- When a harsh sentence about someone starts forming in your head on the commute, stop and ask what it is protecting you from feeling about yourself. Let the sentence go unfinished.
- In the group chat where someone is being taken apart, do not add the clever line you already have ready. You can say nothing, or you can say one honest thing in their favor.
- If a meeting turns into blame and you could easily hand over a name, give the facts without the verdict. Describe what happened and leave the person's character out of it.
What am I accusing someone else of carrying that might actually be mine?
The same truth in other traditions
Dhammapada
Whoever throws a handful of dust against the wind finds it blown back into his own face. The harm aimed at another lands on the one who threw it.
Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius
The one who does wrong harms himself first, and your anger at him costs you more than his fault ever did. Judge less and you lose nothing but the wound.
Judaism · Talmud
Gossip is said to kill three: the one who speaks, the one who listens, and the one spoken of. The speaker is named first for a reason.
Free · No account needed
Read all of Proverbs 25 through 17 lenses
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store