Deuteronomy 19:16

Summary

The verse opens the legal case of a witness accused of wrongdoing: it describes a situation in which someone rises up as a 'ed-chamas ("witness of injustice/violence") against another person, testifying against him with sarah ("rebellion" or wrongdoing). The sentence sets up a conditional clause introduced by ki ("if/that"), establishing the scenario the following verses will judge.

Key words

• ki- ("that", H3588A) — subordinating particle introducing the conditional clause; frames the whole verse as a hypothetical legal situation ("if/when this occurs...").
• ya.Kum ("he will stand", H6965B) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular; denotes future/ongoing action, here meaning someone "rises up" or "comes forward" in a legal sense.
• 'ed- ("witness of", H5707) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be bound to the following noun to form a compound expression rather than standing alone.
• cha.Mas ("injustice", H2555) — masculine singular noun completing the construct chain with 'ed-, yielding "witness of injustice/violence."
• sa.Rah ("rebellion", H5627) — feminine singular noun, the specific accusation the witness levels; it is the object of the infinitive 'a.Not.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around a construct chain: 'ed-chamas ("witness of injustice/violence") functions as a single compound noun phrase, literally "a witness of injustice," rather than a two-word description like "false witness." This witness "rises" (ya.Kum) against a person (be'ish, "against a man"), and the purpose of this rising is expressed through the infinitive la'anot ("to testify"), followed by bo ("against him," a preposition plus pronominal suffix) and the noun sarah ("rebellion"). The construction la'anot bo sarah is thus "to testify against him [concerning] rebellion" — the witness accuses the other person of sarah, a term denoting defection, rebellion, or serious wrongdoing rather than a generic crime.

The grammar emphasizes procedure: the qal imperfect ya.Kum points to the witness "standing up" in a formal or legal sense, evoking the physical act of standing to give testimony in an assembly or court setting. The construct relationship between 'ed and chamas means the injustice is intrinsic to the character of the witness himself — he is described as a "witness of injustice," not merely someone who happens to lie.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew 'ed-chamas ("witness of injustice/violence") is rendered by the LXX as martys adikos ("unjust witness") and by the Vulgate as testis mendax ("false/lying witness") — the Vulgate specifies deceit, while the Hebrew term chamas more broadly denotes violence or injustice rather than falsehood specifically. Similarly, the Hebrew sarah ("rebellion") appears in the LXX as asebeian ("impiety") and in the Vulgate as praevaricationis ("transgression/violation"), each version selecting a different semantic angle on the underlying accusation.