9th Commandment: False witness

Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not answer to your fellow a lying witness.

Do not murder. And do not commit adultery. And do not steal. And do not answer to your fellow a vain witness.

(3) Do not answer to your fellow a lying witness: this includes spreading slander and untruthful defamation, even though it principally is about one who testifies in court.

(4) Do not answer: For many years I searched in my heart for a reason for the use of this word - it says "a lying witness" (ed) instead of saying "lying testimony" (edut). My view now is that it refers to the witness himself, as if it were written, "do not testify if you are a lying witness."...

A lying witness. Ibn Ezra feels pressed to explain that the verse means, if you testify this way you will be a lying witness so do not answer this way to your fellow. But it doesn't make any sense to refer to him as a lying witness before he testifies! and what would he say to Proverbs 25:18, "Like a club, a sword, a sharpened arrow, is a man who answers to his fellow a false witness," where really 'witness' there means one who speaks, and the aramaic translations give 'sahada,' one who speaks testimony.

Keep far from any lie; do not kill the innocent and the just; for I will not justify the wicked.

.Do not answer your fellow... In relation to your fellow. And this is despite the fact that every lie is forbidden, because we have a clear verse: "Keep far from any lie." And in any case it is more severe when it relates to your fellow - that's why we are warned in the Ten Commandments. Maimonides explains 'to your fellow' as 'by way of your fellow' -- that he heard something from his friend and tells it as if he saw it with his own eyes. And the evidence for his explanation is that it says "Do not answer" rather than "Do not testify" or "Do not get up as a lying witness"; rather, answering suggests speaking after another who preceded him. And this is aligned with Numbers 35:30 and Deuteronomy 19:19....

Do not answer to your fellow a vain witness. And it adds to the prior point, saying, it's not just stealing persons (kidnapping) or property that is forbidden, but even stealing opinion (that is, fraud) is forbidden. You may not act as if you are giving generous gifts when you know someone won't really get to receive it; and this is considered vain speech, and false, and empty, and it is in the category of 'do not answer do your fellow a vain witness.'

You shall do to him as he schemed to do to his brother. Thus you will burn out the evil from your midst.

Do not answer to your fellow a lying witness: lying means just deception. In the place you're stored the gold don't tell him pearls and if the pearls are there don't say gold. And as far as the verse 'You shall do to him as he schemed to do to his brother,' if money, money; if blows, blow; if punishments, then punishments. --well then, we have learned the penalty for this; where have we learned of the need to warn? From the verse, Do not answer your fellow a lying witness.

(3) [Witnesses who say,] "We testify that such and such a man is liable [for a prohibition incurred] forty lashes" and are found to be scheming, receive eighty lashes, [forty] on account of [the verse,] "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor," (Exodus 20:12), and [forty] on account of "Then shall you do unto him, as he had purposed to do." (Deuteronomy 19:19) [This is] the view of Rabbi Meir. And the Sages say, they only receive forty lashes. Monetary [compensation] may be divided up, but lashes cannot be divided up. How so? If they testified that one owed his fellow two hundred zuz and were found to be scheming, they may divide between themselves [the sum they owe to the one they conspired against]. But if they testified that he was liable [for a prohibition incurring] forty lashes and were found to be scheming, each one of them incurs forty lashes.

(2) Do not answer to your fellow. The Torah does not write “to your brother,” as it does when forbidding charging interest, (Deut. 23,20) or when it commands you to return found property (Deut. 22,3), and so on. There, we learn from the word choice that the rule applies to 'your brother' meaning another Jew. But here we are warned about non-Jews, too. Thus we see in Exodus 11:2 "borrow, each man from his fellow," where the text is referring to the Egyptians, and similar texts. In addition, if it has used 'your brother,' you might have thought that it is permissible to testify about your close relatives -- that the verse is only forbidding false testimony but if you testify truthfully about them it's fine. But that is not the case, because any testimony about your close relatives is void, whether it's lies or truth, whether they stand to benefit or to lose from it. So the text should have specified, 'lying testimony' -- but then the warning might have seemed to apply only to the witness himself, personally testifying to lies, but when it says 'lying witness' we are meant to be warned away also from any agreement to invite a lying witness. That's the implication of 'Do not answer' -- do not invite any lying witness to come and testify against your fellow.

Do not answer your fellow etc. See, this [9th commandment] is aligned with the utterance[#9 of the 10 utterances through which God created the world,] "...Let us make a human being" (Gen 1:26). The sages wrote, that God told Moshe, "Write, 'let us make a human being.'" Moshe said to God, "You are giving heretics an excuse!" God told him, "Write, and let whoever comes in error...." Because there are reasons and reasons to those who understand! Just as it is written elsewhere, that the Blessed One created humans from among all the types of worlds and including elements of them all. So when God said, "Let us make, from among all these, humans," for mystical reasons, God didn't care about the risk of sinners being tripped up, and knew that the righteous would walk innocently. So that declaration is connected to "Do not answer to your fellow a lying witness" -- becasue we know that the Blessed One calls Israel "my brother and my fellow"... So this is a sort of hint relating to that creation declaration "Let us make a human being," like a warning, saying "Do not answer the One Who is called your Fellow, the Holy One, with lying witness" by understanding that verse in Genesis literally as if there were two creators, God forbid! lest you be considered one of the sinners who trip; rather be among the righteous who walk. But even so, let us note the languages of the verse.

For it should have said, "about your fellow," and it should have said "lying testimony," or said, "Do not be toward your fellow a lying witness." Rather it says, "Haven't I commanded you to love your fellow, and not murder him or commit adultery with his wife or kidnap him? Don't think from that that you might say, 'If I'm lying in support of my friend whom I love, to benefit him, I can testify lies and my guilt will not be great." To prevent this this it says, "Do not answer to your fellow" -- that is, even for him -- with lying testimony. But it specifically uses the word "witness" rather than saying 'testimony' to hint that by doing this it's as if he makes God a lying witness! because God has said [Zephaniah 3:13] "They will not speak lies etc" -- God forbid you have made him turn from being the Witness of Truth. Or one might say that even though the testimony can't conclude with you since you're only one witness you are still violating a prohibition; or if you know that what you're testifying is true because you yourself heard it from a reliable witness, still do not 'answer' as a witness to say that you saw it yourself, because that makes you a lying witness; so it says, not 'testimony' but 'witness.'

From where is it derived with regard to a student who is sitting before his teacher and sees a claim that provides advantage for a poor person and disadvantage for a wealthy person that he shall not remain silent? It is derived as the verse states: “Keep far from any lie.”

From where is it derived with regard to a student who sees his teacher who is erring in judgment that he shall not say: I will wait for my teacher until he concludes the trial and then I will contradict him and construct a ruling of my own so that the verdict will be attributed to my name? It is derived as the verse states: “Keep far from any lie.”

From where is it derived with regard to a student whose teacher said to him: You know that even if someone were to give me one hundred times one hundred dinars, I would not fabricate a claim. Now, I have one hundred dinars in the possession of so-and-so, to whom I lent money, but I have only one witness of the two required to testify about the loan and enable me to collect payment; from where is it derived that the student shall not join with the other witness and testify? It is derived as the verse states: “Keep far from any lie."

Is it really from that verse? But in that case he's actually lying, and the Torah states: “Do not answer to your fellow as a lying witness." ?! Rather, this case must be one where the teacher said to him: I have one witness, and you come and stand there beside him and do not say anything - you don't have to speak the lie with your own mouth." But no: it is prohibited to do this, too, because of the verse, "Keep far from any lie."