'Falsehood' in the Bible
‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the Lord will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].
They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, as well as His warnings that he gave them. And they followed vanity [that is, false gods, idols] and became vain (empty-headed). They followed the [pagan practices of the] nations which surrounded them, although the Lord had commanded that they were not to do as they did.
“For He recognizes and knows false and worthless men,And He sees wickedness, will He not consider it?
“How then can you vainly comfort me with empty words,Since your answers remain untrue?”
“If I have walked with falsehood,Or if my foot has chased after deceit,
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,Who has not lifted up his soul to what is false,Nor has sworn [oaths] deceitfully.
And when one comes to see me, he speaks empty words,While his heart gathers malicious gossip [against me];When he goes away, he tells it [everywhere].
Remove from me the way of falsehood and unfaithfulness,And graciously grant me Your law.
All Your commandments are faithful and trustworthy.They have persecuted me with a lie; help me [Lord]!
Do not let mercy and kindness and truth leave you [instead let these qualities define you];Bind them [securely] around your neck,Write them on the tablet of your heart.
If a ruler pays attention to lies [and encourages corruption],All his officials will become wicked.
Keep deception and lies far from me;Give me neither poverty nor riches;Feed me with the food that is my portion,
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who drag along wickedness with cords of falsehood,And sin as if with cart ropes [towing their own punishment];
Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,And with Sheol (the place of the dead) we have made an agreement,When the overwhelming scourge passes by, it will not reach us,For we have made lies our refuge and we have concealed ourselves in deception.”
Rebelling against and denying the Lord,Turning away from [following] our God,Speaking oppression and revolt,Conceiving and muttering from the heart lying words.
“How can you say, ‘We are wise,And the law of the Lord is with us [and we are learned in its language and teachings]’?Behold, [the truth is that] the lying pen of the scribesHas made the law into a lie [a mere code of ceremonial observances].
Every man has become [like a brute] irrational and stupid, without knowledge [of God];Every goldsmith is shamed by his carved idols;For his molten images are frauds and lies,And there is no breath in them.
“This is your destiny, the portion [of judgment] measured to youFrom Me,” says the Lord,“Because you have forgotten MeAnd trusted in [pagan] lies [the counterfeit gods, and the pretense of alliance].”
How long [shall this state of affairs continue]? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart,
Your prophets have seen (imagined) for youFalse and foolish visions;And they have not exposed your wickednessTo restore you from captivity [by teaching you to repent],But they have seen (imagined) and declared to you false and misleading oracles.
They have seen falsehood and lying divination, saying, ‘The Lord says,’ but the Lord has not sent them. Yet they hope and make men to hope for the confirmation of their word.
When I would heal Israel,The sin (guilt) of Ephraim is uncovered,And the wickedness of Samaria,Because they practice false dealing;The thief enters,Bandits ravage and raid outside.
“If a man walking in a false spirit [spouting deception]Should lie and say,‘I will prophesy to you [O Israel] of wine and liquor (greed, sensual pleasure),’He would be the acceptable spokesman of this people.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Here is an Israelite indeed [a true descendant of Jacob], in whom there is no guile nor deceit nor duplicity!”
He who speaks on his own accord seeks glory and honor for himself. But He who seeks the glory and the honor of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness or deception in Him.
You are of your father the devil, and it is your will to practice the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths.
But [as you might say] if through my lie God’s truth was magnified and abounded to His glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner?
As for you, the anointing [the special gift, the preparation] which you received from Him remains [permanently] in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But just as His anointing teaches you [giving you insight through the presence of the Holy Spirit] about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as His anointing has taught you, you must remain in Him [being rooted in Him, knit to Him].
and nothing that defiles or profanes or is unwashed will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices abominations [detestable, morally repugnant things] and lying, but only those [will be admitted] whose names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Outside are the dogs [the godless, the impure, those of low moral character] and the sorcerers [with their intoxicating drugs, and magic arts], and the immoral persons [the perverted, the molesters, and the adulterers], and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying (deception, cheating).