Lying

Any action or word that is meant to fool someone else. God is truth, and He expects His people to speak the truth. Jesus called Satan “the father of lies.” This meant that Satan tries to influence people to lie. All types of lying are considered wrong in the Bible, but especially bad is someone who gives “false testimony”—telling something untrue about another person in order to hurt that person. This is one of the Ten Commandments.

Some lies were fatal. Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, lied to God and died instantly! But people who lied weren’t always put to death. When the pharaoh of Egypt ordered the deaths of all newborn boys, two midwives lied to him in order to save the lives of the babies.