No ferás fals testimoni
The Gravity of Truth
The author defines false testimony as a perversion of justice and warns against both slander and flattery.
Know, son, that testimony is representing before a judge the matter on which he awards reward and punishment; and for that reason, son, God commanded that no one give false testimony, for by false testimony those who deserve prosperity suffer punishment, and the one who deserves punishment gets prosperity.1 Speaking ill of people and false testimony go together against the truth; and praise and false testimony go together against truth and justice. So take care that you aren't a reviler or a praiser of anything when that would mean giving false testimony. God wants you not to bear false witness about the truth of God, against which there are many wicked revilers and many weak, fearful praisers.✦2
Witnessing to the Truth
The author calls the reader to emulate the martyrs and Christ by boldly confessing the truth of God despite the threat of death.
My son, desire to die so that you may bear true witness to God, who created and recreated you. If you are afraid of suffering death, remember the apostles and the other martyrs—how God has honored them in heaven and on earth because they bore true witness to his praise and his honor.34 To deny the truth of your God and keep silent about His praise in the places where people deny Him is to give false testimony about your God; for that does not follow the final end for which God created it. Rather, it falsely implies that God has some lack of nobility.567 Ah, my son, it's said so lightly that no one should bear false witness—but how hard it would be to recount all those who bear false witness about God! The Son of God came down among us into this world to bear true witness to the glorious heavenly Father; so if anyone wants to resemble him, they shouldn't be a servant of death, which makes a person afraid to confess the truth before those who give false testimony about our Lord God.
Read the original Latin
Sapies, fill, que testimoni es representar a jutge so per que dona mérit e pena; e per so, fill, Deus maná que hom no fassa fals testimoni; car per fals testimoni han pena aquells qui merexen benanansa, e ha benanansa aquell qui mereix pena.
Mal dir e fals testimoni se covénen contra veritat; e laor e fals testimoni se covénen contra veritat e justicia: on per assó guarde t que no sies blasmador ne loador de nuyla re hon sia fals testimoni.
Deus vol que tu no fasses fals testimoni de veritat de Deu, contra la qual son molts malvats blasmadors e molts flachs temorosos lausadors.
Amable fill, desija murir per donar vertader testimoni de Deu quit ha creat e recreat; e si tems pendre mort, remembra en los apóstols e en los altres mártirs con los ha Deus honrats en lo cel e en la térra, per so car donaren vertader testimoni de la sua laor e del seu honrament.
Negar veritat de son Deu e callar sa laor en los lochs on loen negar, es donar fals testimoni de son Deu; car nos seguex la cosa final per la qual la Deus creat; enans falsament significa que Deus aja defalliment de nobilitat.
¡Ah, fill, tan leugerament es dit que hom no fassa fals testimoni; mas tan greu cosa sería de recomtar tots aquells qui de Deu donen fals testimoni!
Lo Fill de Deu vene sá entre nos sajús, per donar ver testimoni del celestial Pare gloriós: on, si es negú quil vulla ressemblar, no sia servu de la mort qui fa hom temorós a confesar veritat denant aquells qui fan fals testimoni de nostro Senyor Deu.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.20.16;Deut.5.20 — You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Deut.5.20 — And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Notes
- 1 ↩benanansa: rendered as 'prosperity' (good fortune / well-being); Old Catalan also allows 'blessedness' in a moral-reward sense.
- 2 ↩Old Catalan flachs (modern flacs) = weak/soft/spineless; paired with temorosos as moral cowardice. lausadors matches the previous section's loador: those who praise (including flattering or false praise), set opposite malvats blasmadors (wicked revilers/slanderers).
- 3 ↩Medieval Catalan 'quit' is read as 'qui t'' (who [has] you): 'Deu quit ha creat e recreat' = 'God who has created and recreated you'.
- 4 ↩'Creat e recreat' keeps the traditional pair of first creation and recreation (grace/baptismal renewal), not a second physical making.
- 5 ↩Reading 'loen' as 'lo en' (object + particle) with impersonal/3pl sense: 'where people deny Him'. Alternate paleographic/semantic reading would take 'loen' as 3pl of loar ('praise'): 'in the places where they praise [Him]'. Chosen reading fits the chapter's deny/confess frame (blasphemers vs. fearful praisers; martyrs).
- 6 ↩'nos seguex' taken as 'no s'segueix' ('does not follow/pursue'). Clitic 'la' is the created subject of that end (the human creature/soul); Llull's teleology: the person is made to know, love, and praise God. 'Cosa final' = final end/purpose (teleological, not 'final thing' in a casual sense).
- 7 ↩Kept 'nobility' for Llull's technical 'nobilitat' (divine excellence/worthiness). 'Defalliment' = deficiency/defect/lack, not moral 'failure' alone.
Doctrine for Children — Opening companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit