“A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”
My Notes
What Does Proverbs 6:19 Mean?
"A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." The seventh item in Solomon's list of seven things God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19). The list climaxes with two sins that destroy community: bearing false witness and sowing discord among brothers. The placement as the final (and therefore climactic) item suggests that community destruction is the ultimate expression of what God hates. All the previous items (proud eyes, lying tongue, murderous hands, scheming heart, rushing feet, false witness) find their worst expression in the fracturing of relationships.
The phrase "among brethren" specifies the context: this isn't discord among strangers. It's discord among brothers — people who should be united. The sin is introducing division where unity should exist.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Why does sowing discord among brothers climax God's list of things he hates — even above murder?
- 2.Where have you been a sower of discord — planting words that divided people who should be united?
- 3.What seeds of unity could you plant this week in a community that's fractured?
- 4.How does the agricultural metaphor (sowing) reveal that discord is cultivated over time, not just a single act?
Devotional
The last thing on God's hate list. Not murder. Not lying. The sowing of discord among brothers. That's the climax. That's the thing God finds most abominable: someone who takes people who should be together and tears them apart.
Solomon lists seven things God hates (6:16-19), and each one is worse than the last. Proud eyes. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. A scheming heart. Feet that rush to evil. A false witness. And finally, at the peak of divine hatred: he who sows discord among brethren.
The escalation matters. You'd expect murder to top the list. Or maybe lying. But God reserves the climactic position for the person who breaks relationships — specifically relationships that should be unified. Among brethren. Not enemies. Brothers. People bound by family, covenant, community, or faith. The discord-sower takes what God joined and rips it apart.
Sowing discord is agricultural language. The person doesn't just create a single conflict. They plant seeds of division — words, rumors, insinuations, half-truths — that grow into full-blown fractures. They work the soil. They cultivate the separation. They tend the conflict until it produces a harvest of broken relationships.
If God's hate list climaxes with sowing discord among brothers, then the opposite — the thing God loves most — is sowing unity. Building bridges. Healing fractures. Speaking words that bind rather than divide. Being the person who enters a room and connects people rather than splitting them.
Which are you sowing?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
My son, keep thy father's commandment,.... These are not the words of David to Solomon continued from Pro 4:4; but the…
A new section, but not a new subject. The closing words, “he that soweth discord” (Pro 6:19, compare Pro 6:14), lead us…
Solomon here gives us,
I. The characters of one that is mischievous to man and dangerous to be dealt with. If the…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture