21:28

This proverb contrasts a false witness with a reliable witness who is a careful listener. The false witness will perish. The testimony of the reliable witness will be accepted as true.

28a
A lying witness will perish,

28b but the man who listens to truth will speak forever.

21:28a

A lying witness will perish: There are two ways to interpret the subject of the verb will perish :

(1) The lying witness himself will perish. He will be punished either by the court or by God. For example:

A lying witness will die (God’s Word)
-or-
A false witness is doomed (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)

(2) The testimony of the lying witness will perish. Either he will not be allowed to finish testifying or his testimony will not be accepted as true. For example:

The testimony of a liar is not believed (Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The idea that a false witness will be punished is repeated twice in Proverbs (see 19:5 and 19:9). There are no examples elsewhere in the OT where the phrase “lying/false witness” refers to the words that the false witness speaks. Nor are there examples elsewhere where the words of a false witness “will perish.”

21:28b

but the man who listens to truth will speak forever: In Hebrew, this clause is literally “but/and a person who listens will speak forever.” There are two main ways to interpret this clause:

(1) This clause refers to a reliable witness who listens carefully before he gives his own evidence in a legal case. It implies that what he says will not agree with the testimony of the false witness. This person’s evidence will be accepted as true and permanent. For example:

but a good listener will testify successfully (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
but the word of a man who hears will endure (English Standard Version)

(2) This clause refers to someone who listens to the false witness. It implies that what he says agrees with the testimony of the false witness. This person, like the false witness, will be permanently destroyed. For example:

and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever (New International Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). None of the scholars or other versions used in preparing these Notes supported interpretation (2).

the man who listens to truth: In Hebrew, this phrase is literally “a person who listens.” In this context, it implies that a witness carefully listens and thinks about what he has heard. It may also imply that the witness truly heard what he reports.

The verse does not make explicit what the witness listens to. It may refer to statements that he has heard in court. It may also refer to things that he heard or observed that are related to the case.

will speak forever: In this context, the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as forever probably implies that the testimony of a reliable witness will be permanently accepted as the truth. He will speak forever in the sense that what he says will win the case. The phrase may also imply that he will be allowed to give his full testimony. He will not be silenced or kept from testifying.

Some versions make one or more of these implications explicit. For example:

but no one who knows how to listen will ever be silenced (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
but a credible witness will be allowed to speak (New Living Translation (2004))

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