Jewish Ethics on Truth and Lying

(7) You shall not swear falsely by the name of the LORD your God; for the LORD will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.

(13) You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

(7) Keep far from a false matter; do not bring death on those who are innocent and in the right; for I will not justify the wicked.

(11) You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another. (12) You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD.

(10) And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was severe in the land. (11) As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. (12) If the Egyptians see you, and think, 'She is his wife,' they will kill me and let you live. (13) Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you." (14) When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how very beautiful the woman was. (15) Pharaoh's courtiers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's palace. (16) And because of her, it went well with Abram; he acquired sheep, oxen, asses, male and female slaves, she-asses, and camels. (17) But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his household with mighty plagues on account of Sarai, the wife of Abram. (18) Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me! Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? (19) Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife; take her and begone!" (20) And Pharaoh put men in charge of him, and they sent him off with his wife and all that he possessed.

(1) Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negeb and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was sojourning in Gerar, (2) Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. (3) But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "You are to die because of the woman that you have taken, for she is a married woman."(4) Now Abimelech had not approached her. He said, "O Lord, will You slay people even though innocent? (5) He himself said to me, 'She is my sister!' And she also said, 'He is my brother.' When I did this, my heart was blameless and my hands were clean." (6) And God said to him in the dream, "I knew that you did this with a blameless heart, and so I kept you from sinning against Me. That was why I did not let you touch her. (7) Therefore, restore the man's wife—since he is a prophet, he will intercede for you—to save your life. If you fail to restore her, know that you shall die, you and all that are yours." (8) Early next morning, Abimelech called his servants and told them all that had happened; and the men were greatly frightened. (9) Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? What wrong have I done that you should bring so great a guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done to me things that ought not to be done. (10) What, then," Abimelech demanded of Abraham, "was your purpose in doing this thing?" (11) "I thought," said Abraham, "surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. (12) And besides, she is in truth my sister, my father's daughter though not my mother's; and she became my wife. (13) So when God made me wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'Let this be the kindness that you shall do me: whatever place we come to, say there of me: He is my brother.'" (14) Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored his wife Sarah to him. (15) And Abimelech said, "Here, my land is before you; settle wherever you please." (16) And to Sarah he said, "I herewith give your brother a thousand pieces of silver; this will serve you as vindication before all who are with you, and you are cleared before everyone." (17)Abraham then prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his slave girls, so that they bore children; (18) for the Lord had closed fast every womb of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

(1) The Lord appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. (2) Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, (3) he said, "My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant. (4) Let a little water be brought; bathe your feet and recline under the tree. (5) And let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves; then go on—seeing that you have come your servant's way." They replied, "Do as you have said." (6)Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quick, three seahs of choice flour! Knead and make cakes!" (7) Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to a servant-boy, who hastened to prepare it. (8) He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree as they ate. (9) They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he replied, "There, in the tent." (10) Then one said, "I will return to you next year, and your wife Sarah shall have a son!" Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind him. (11) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years; Sarah had stopped having the periods of women. (12) And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment—with my husband so old?" (13) Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?' (14) Is anything too wondrous for the Lord? I will return to you at the time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." (15) Sarah lied, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was frightened. But He replied, "You did laugh."

(1) Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, "Abraham," and he answered, "Here I am." (2) And He said, "Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you." (3) So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him. (4) On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. (5) Then Abraham said to his servants, "You stay here with the ass. The boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you." (6) Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together. (7) Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he answered, "Yes, my son." And he said, "Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" (8) And Abraham said, "God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son." And the two of them walked on together. (9) They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. (10) And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. (11) Then an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: "Abraham! Abraham!" And he answered, "Here I am." (12) And he said, "Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me." (13) When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. (14) And Abraham named that site Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, "On the mount of the Lord there is vision." (15) The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, (16) and said, "By Myself I swear, the Lord declares: Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your favored one, (17) I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. (18) All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command." (19) Abraham then returned to his servants, and they departed together for Beer-sheba; and Abraham stayed in Beer-sheba.

(1) When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." He answered, "Here I am." (2) And he said, "I am old now, and I do not know how soon I may die. (3) Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game. (4) Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my innermost blessing before I die." (5) Rebekah had been listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out into the open to hunt game to bring home, (6) Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I overheard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, (7) 'Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, with the Lord's approval, before I die.' (8) Now, my son, listen carefully as I instruct you. (9) Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes. (10) Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies." (11) Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned. (12) If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing." (13) But his mother said to him, "Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me." (14) He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked. (15) Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on; (16) and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids. (17) Then she put in the hands of her son Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared. (18) He went to his father and said, "Father." And he said, "Yes, which of my sons are you?" (19) Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing." (20) Isaac said to his son, "How did you succeed so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the Lord your God granted me good fortune." (21) Isaac said to Jacob, "Come closer that I may feel you, my son-whether you are really my son Esau or not." (22) So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and wondered. "The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau." (23) He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; and so he blessed him. (24) He asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" And when he said, "I am," (25) he said, "Serve me and let me eat of my son's game that I may give you my innermost blessing." So he served him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank. (26) Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come close and kiss me, my son"; (27) and he went up and kissed him. And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that the Lord has blessed (28) "May God give you Of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, Abundance of new grain and wine. (29) Let peoples serve you, And nations bow to you; Be master over your brothers, And let your mother's sons bow to you. Cursed be they who curse you, Blessed they who bless you." (30) No sooner had Jacob left the presence of his father Isaac-after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob-than his brother Esau came back from his hunt. (31) He too prepared a dish and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, "Let my father sit up and eat of his son's game, so that you may give me your innermost blessing." (32) His father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, Esau, your first-born!" (33) Isaac was seized with very violent trembling. "Who was it then," he demanded, "that hunted game and brought it to me? Moreover, I ate of it before you came, and I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!" (34) When Esau heard his father's words, he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, "Bless me too, Father!" (35) But he answered, "Your brother came with guile and took away your blessing." (36) [Esau] said, "Was he, then, named Jacob that he might supplant me these two times? First he took away my birthright and now he has taken away my blessing!" And he added, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" (37) Isaac answered, saying to Esau, "But I have made him master over you: I have given him all his brothers for servants, and sustained him with grain and wine. What, then, can I still do for you, my son? (38) And Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father!" And Esau wept aloud. (39) And his father Isaac answered, saying to him, "See, your abode shall enjoy the fat of the earth And the dew of heaven above. (40) Yet by your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; But when you grow restive, You shall break his yoke from your neck." (41) Now Esau harbored a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing which his father had given him, and Esau said to himself, "Let but the mourning period of my father come, and I will kill my brother Jacob." (42) When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. (43) Now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to Haran, to my brother Laban. (44) Stay with him a while, until your brother's fury subsides (45) until your brother's anger against you subsides-and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will fetch you from there. Let me not lose you both in one day!"

(25) Laban overtook Jacob. Jacob had pitched his tent on the Height, and Laban with his kinsmen encamped in the hill country of Gilead. (26) And Laban said to Jacob, "What did you mean by keeping me in the dark and carrying off my daughters like captives of the sword? (27) Why did you flee in secrecy and mislead me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with festive music, with timbrel and lyre. (28) You did not even let me kiss my sons and daughters good-by! It was a foolish thing for you to do. (29) I have it in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father said to me last night, 'Beware of attempting anything with Jacob, good or bad.' (30) Very well, you had to leave because you were longing for your father's house; but why did you steal my gods? (31) Jacob answered Laban, saying, "I was afraid because I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. (32) But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not remain alive! In the presence of our kinsmen, point out what I have of yours and take it." Jacob, of course, did not know that Rachel had stolen them. (33) So Laban went into Jacob's tent and Leah's tent and the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find them. Leaving Leah's tent, he entered Rachel's tent. (34) Rachel, meanwhile, had taken the idols and placed them in the camel cushion and sat on them; and Laban rummaged through the tent without finding them. (35) For she said to her father, "Let not my lord take it amiss that I cannot rise before you, for the period of women is upon me." Thus he searched, but could not find the household idols. (36) Now Jacob became incensed and took up his grievance with Laban. Jacob spoke up and said to Laban, "What is my crime, what is my guilt that you should pursue me? (37) You rummaged through all my things; what have you found of all your household objects? Set it here, before my kinsmen and yours, and let them decide between us two.

(1) And the LORD said to Samuel: ‘How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and set out, I am sending you to Jesse the Beth-lehemite; for I have decided on one of his sons to be king. (2) Samuel replied: ‘How can I go? if Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ The LORD answered: ‘Take a heifer with you, and say: I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. (3) Invite Jesse to the sacrificial feast, and then I will make known to you what you shall do, you shall anoint for Me the one I point out to you (4) Samuel did what the Lord commanded. When he came to Bethlehem the elders of the city went out in alarm to meet him and said: ‘Do you come on peaceful errand?’ (5) 'Yes,' he replied 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' 'Purify yourselves and join me in the sacrificial feast.' He also instructed Jesse and his sons to purify themselves and invited them to the sacrificial feast.

A. How do we know that a student sitting before his teacher, who sees that the poor man is right and the wealthy man wrong, should not remain silent? Because it is said, "Keep far from a false matter." (Exod 23:7)

B. How do we know that a student to whom his teacher says, "You know that if I were given a hundred manehs, I would not tell a lie, now, so-and-so owes me one maneh, and I have only one witness against him" --How do we know the student should not join with him? Because it is said, "Keep far from a false matter." {According to Jewish law there must be two witnesses. The teacher is inviting his student to testify to something his teacher tells him is true.}

C. Is this, then, deduced from: "Keep far from a false matter." Surely this is definitely lying, and the Divine Law said: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Well, then, for example, if he said to him, ‘I have definitely have one witness; and you come and stand there, and you need not say anything, so that you will not be uttering a lie from your mouth'; even so it is prohibited, because It is said: Keep far from a false matter."

"It is I, Esau, you first born" - It is I, (Jacob) who is bringing you, Esau (he is) your first born.

Rava also said: A rabbinical scholar may assert "I am a servant of fire, and will not pay poll-tax." What is the reason? Because it is only to drive away a lion.

(4) One may vow [in front of] murderers and thieves and [royal] tax collectors that [something] is terumah, even if it isn't terumah; [or] that they are property of the king, even if they aren't property of the king. Beit Shammai says: [this is true] regarding all vows except for oaths, and Beit Hillel says: even regarding oaths. Beit Shammai says: he [the victim] may not offer to make the vow. And Beit Hillel says: he may even offer [to make the vow]. Beit Shammai says: [he may only vow] regarding what he is asked to vow, and Beit Hillel says: even regarding that which he wasn't asked to vow...

R. Yehoshua b. Hanania said: I was once staying at an inn where the hostess served me beans. On the first day I ate all of them, leaving nothing. On the second day, too, I left nothing. On the third day she overseasoned them with salt and as soon as I tasted them I withdrew my hand. "My master," she said to me, "why do you not eat?" I replied, "I have already eaten earlier in the day..."

R. Ilai in the name of R. Eleazar b. R. Shimon: One may modify a statement in the interest of peace, for it is said: "Your father commanded us before he died saying, So shall you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray you, the transgression of your brothers..."(Gen 50:16-17)

R. Nathan said: It is a commandment [to modify a statement in the interest of peace]. It is said, "Samuel said. How can I go? If Saul hear it he will kill me. And the Lord said, 'Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice unto the Lord." (I Samuel 16:2)

The Rabbis taught in a Baraita, How do we dance before the bride? [How does one praise the bride?] Beit Shammai says, praise the bride as she is. And Beit Hillel says, beautiful and gracious bride.

Beit Shammai said to Beit Hillel: What if she is lame or blind, do we say about her beautiful and gracious bride? Doesn't the Torah say, "Keep far from a false matter!"

Beit Hillel said to Beit Shammai: According to you if one has made a bad purchase in the market, should one praise it in [the owner's] eyes or denigrate it? Surely one should praise it in his eyes.

Therefore the sages said: One should always get along with other people...

(18) Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel used to say: On three things does the world stand: On justice, and on truth, and on peace, As it is said (Zachariah 8:16): “Judge with truth, justice, and peace in your gates.”