or has found that which was lost, and lied about it, and swearing to a lie—in any of these things that a man sins in his actions—
Parallel Translations
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or has found that which was lost, and lied about it, and swearing to a lie—in any of these things that a man sins in his actions—
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Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
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(5-22) or have found that which was lost, and deal falsely therein, and swear to a lie; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein;
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Leviticus 6:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 23:4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
- Leviticus 19:12 “ ‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
- Exodus 22:9-11 For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine,’ the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor. “If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it; the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, he has not put his hand on his neighbor’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.
- Deuteronomy 22:1-4 You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother. If your brother isn’t near to you, or if you don’t know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother comes looking for it, and you shall restore it to him. So you shall do with his donkey. So you shall do with his garment. So you shall do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found. You may not hide yourself. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift them up again.
- Proverbs 30:9 lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is Yahweh?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
- Jeremiah 5:2 Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
- Jeremiah 7:9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
- Zechariah 5:4 I will cause it to go out,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”
- Malachi 3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Wherein he cannot but sin: or, wherein a man…
Wherein he cannot but sin: or, wherein a man accustometh to sin by perjury or such like thing.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 6:3 Or have found that which was lost,…
Lev 6:3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
Ver. 3. And lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely.] Through inordinate love of money, that "root of all evil"; {a} but such money shall perish with them. {Zec 5:3}
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{a} Quid non mortalia pectora cogit auri sacra fames? ηη φιλοχρηματιη μητηρ κακοτητος απασης.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Sweareth falsely; his oath being required, seeing there was…
Sweareth falsely; his oath being required, seeing there was no other way of discovery left.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Or have found that which was lost, and lieth…
Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it,.... Who having found anything lost, at once concludes it his own, and converts it to his own use, never inquiring after the proprietor of it, or taking any method to get knowledge of him, and restore it to him; but so far from that, being suspected of finding it, and charged with it denies it: Maimonides (k) gives a reason why a lost thing should be restored, not only because so to do is a virtue in itself praiseworthy, but because it has a reciprocal utility; for if you do not restore another's lost things, neither will your own be restored to you:
and sweareth falsely; which is to be understood, not of the last case only, but of all the rest, or of anyone of them, as it follows:
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in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein; by unfaithfulness in a trust, cheating, defrauding, lying, and false swearing.
(k) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 40.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Swear falsely - His oath being required, seeing there…
Swear falsely - His oath being required, seeing there was no other way of discovery left.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Have found that which was lost] The…
Verse 3. Have found that which was lost] The Roman lawyers laid it down as a sound maxim of jurisprudence, "that he who found any property and applied it to his own use, should be considered as a thief whether he knew the owner or not; for in their view the crime was not lessened, supposing the finder was totally ignorant of the right owner." Qui alienum quid jacens lucri faciendi causa sustulit, furti obstringitur, sive scit, cujus sit, sive ignoravit; nihil enim ad furtum minuendum, facit, quod, cujus sit, ignoret. - DIGESTOR, lib. xlvii., TIT. ii., de furtis, Leg. xliii., sec. 4. On this subject every honest man must say, that the man who finds any lost property, and does not make all due inquiry to find out the owner, should, in sound policy, be treated as a thief. It is said of the Dyrbaeans, a people who inhabited the tract between Bactria and India, that if they met with any lost property, even on the public road, they never even touched it. This was actually the case in this kingdom in the time of Alfred the Great, about A. D. 888; so that golden bracelets hung up on the public roads were untouched by the finger of rapine. One of Solon's laws was, Take not up what you laid not down. How easy to act by this principle in case of finding lost property: "This is not mine, and it would be criminal to convert it to my use unless the owner be dead and his family extinct." When all due inquiry is made, if no owner can be found, the lost property may be legally considered to be the property of the finder.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Lev 6:3. Sweareth falsely — His oath being required,…
Lev 6:3. Sweareth falsely — His oath being required, seeing there was no other way of discovery left. And is guilty — Makes his guilt manifest by his voluntary confession upon remorse; whereby he reapeth this benefit, that he only restores the principal with the addition of a fifth part; whereas, if he were convicted of his fault, he was to pay in some cases five-fold, in some four-fold, in others double.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lost. We acquire no title to the thing by…
Lost. We acquire no title to the thing by finding it. The Roman law, as well as divines, condemn those who appropriate the thing found to their own use, as guilty of theft, whether they knew to whom it belonged or not; and Plato greatly commends the law of Solon, "Take not what thou didst not put down," a rule which the Dyrbeans and the people of Biblos rigorously observed. We may, however, take up what is lost, (Calmet) and endeavour to find the owner, who must indemnify us for our trouble; and, if we never find him, we are directed to give the price to the poor, for the owner’s welfare. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Found… lost — The Roman code was evidently…
3. Found… lost — The Roman code was evidently the voice of the same Divine Legislator speaking the same words through nature as he spake to Moses in the tabernacle. By that code he who found and appropriated any property was punished as a thief, whether he knew the owner or not. A brief statute of Solon was, “Take not up what you laid not down.”
Property as a natural right, without which civilization would be annihilated and the human race become extinct, finds ample safeguards in the Holy Scriptures.
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Sweareth falsely — Avarice is the mother of lying and perjury.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. that which was lost] See Exo_22:8-9.
3. that which was lost] See Exo_22:8-9.
The two characteristics of the Guilt-Offering are (1) the sacrifice is the same for all classes, (2) restitution is required in full, together with a fifth part more.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Or have found.—The fifth instance adduced is of…
(3) Or have found.—The fifth instance adduced is of property which was neither entrusted nor exacted but accidentally found. For the law on lost property, see Exo_23:4; Deu_22:1-3.
And sweareth falsely.—This refers to all the five instances specified—that is, if he denies with an oath that property had been entrusted to him, that he had robbed, or exacted, or found anything.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Or have found that which was lost. Cf. Deu_22:2,…
Or have found that which was lost. Cf. Deu_22:2, Deu_22:3, "Thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother"s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise." And sweareth falsely. By previous legislation it had been appointed that, in case of a doubt arising as to what had become of property delivered to another to keep, there should be "an oath of the Lord between them both, that" the latter "hath not put his hand unto his neighbour"s goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good". (Exo_22:11) This opened the way to false swearing where men were dishonest. Sinning therein. Wrong to man is sin against God in every ease, but a special sin against God is committed when an appeal has been made to him by oath, and the oath has been false.
Swearing falsely
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is in an especial manner a sin against God, because in an oath an appeal is directly made to God, and if the thing sworn to is false, God is called to witness to a thing as true which the swearer knows to be false. It is also in an especial manner a sin against society, as mutual truth-telling is the very bond of social trust. When the moral and religious tone of a nation stands high, "an oath for confirmation is the end of all strife", (Heb_6:16) and on the other hand, when either a disbelief in God"s providence or a casuistical theology saps the confidence placed in promises confirmed by oaths, society is perilously near its dissolution (see Bishop Sanderson"s "Obligation of Oaths"). The sanctity of an oath is guarded by a special commandment in the Decalogue.
Sin a germ as well as a fruit.
It is contemplated by the Supreme Legislator, that if a man once cherish a dishonest thought, he will probably go beyond fraud to falsehood ("and lieth"), and, when necessary, from falsehood to perjury ("and sweareth falsely"). This is true to life. Sin is not only the consequence of the evil that came before it, but it is the cause of more sin which is to follow; it is not only the child but the parent of wrong. Learn that
I NO MAN WHO SINS CAN TELL HOW FAR HIS SIN WILL TAKE HIM. Hazael, Gehazi, Ahab, Judas, etc.; "facilis descensus Averni.
II IT IS IN THE NATURE OF SIN TO TEMPT TO FURTHER SIN. The instances with which we are familiar are not remarkable exceptions; they are illustrations of a principle at work everywhere and always. "There"s not a crime but takes its change out still in crime, when once rung on the counter of this world;" dishonesty naturally, if not necessarily, leads to lying, and lying to perjury. One sin is the germ of another, and is sure to bear fruit.
III IT IS A PART OF THE PENALTY OF SIN THAT IT SHOULD DO SO. We sometimes think that sin carries no penalty; so it seemed to the Psalmist, (Ps 73) but he was wrong, as he owned (verse 15). It not only ends disastrously ("then understood I their end"), but it results in certain, immediate, spiritual injury. On the day in which the forbidden fruit is eaten, we do die, in the soul.
IV THIS FACT OF THE DIFFUSIVENESS OF SIN HELPS TO EXPLAIN THE EXCEEDING EVIL OF IT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. It may well be accounted "an evil and bitter thing," a thing which he "hates," which he "abhors," etc.
These considerations furnish
(1) a very strong reason for repentance, etc; and
(2) an equally strong inducement for the cultivation of holiness in the heart and life of the good. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.