A falsehood
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G5579, pseûdos, is a Greek noun for a lie or falsehood. It appears in Jesus' description of the devil as the father of lies, Paul's account of exchanging God's truth for a lie, the command to put off falsehood because believers belong to one another, deceptive signs and a believed lie in Second Thessalonians, John's insistence that no lie comes from the truth, and Revelation's contrast between truthful witness and.
Reader summary
Full entry for ψεῦδος (G5579) · Open the biblical lexicon
G5579, pseûdos, is a Greek noun for a lie or falsehood. It appears in Jesus' description of the devil as the father of lies, Paul's account of exchanging God's truth for a lie, the command to put off falsehood because believers belong to one another, deceptive signs and a believed lie in Second Thessalonians, John's insistence that no lie comes from the.
The BSB source-word alignment has 10 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a lie (2), falsehood (2), lie (2), . . . (1), [the] lie (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 8:44. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (3), 1 John (2), 2 Thessalonians (2), Ephesians (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G5579, pseûdos, is a Greek noun for a lie or falsehood. It appears in Jesus' description of the devil as the father of lies, Paul's account of exchanging God's truth for a lie, the command to put off falsehood because believers belong to one another, deceptive signs and a believed lie in Second Thessalonians, John's insistence that no lie comes from the truth, and Revelation's contrast between truthful witness and those who love and practice falsehood. In one BSB verse the negated expression not a lie is translated positively as genuine. The noun names false content or a false way, not every error, incomplete statement, private boundary, or disputed interpretation.
Ephesians gives truth-telling a communal reason: members of one body must not deceive one another. Truth is not merely private accuracy; lies injure shared trust and action. Romans 1 identifies a deeper exchange in which the Creator's truth is traded for an idolatrous lie. Second Thessalonians warns that impressive signs can serve falsehood and that refusal to love the truth leaves people vulnerable to delusion. These texts call for discernment without paranoia. A dramatic event, minority view, correction, or uncertainty is not automatically a lie; deception requires attention to what is claimed, known, intended, and sustained after correction.
John 8 demands an anti-Jewish safeguard. Jesus disputes with particular opponents and identifies murderous falsehood with the devil; He does not assign a diabolical ethnicity or condemn Jewish people as a race. Revelation's apocalyptic exclusions likewise call communities to truthful allegiance, not social purges or violence. Pastoral practice should distinguish confidentiality from deception, protect privacy and safety, correct false claims visibly, preserve evidence, and give space to acknowledge uncertainty. Truthfulness never requires disclosing another person's story without consent or answering a coercive demand that has no right to the information.
G5579 traces falsehood from murderous spiritual opposition and idolatrous exchange through neighbor deception, counterfeit signs, refusal of truth, genuine teaching, truthful witness, and an apocalyptic contrast between allegiance to the Lamb and practiced lies.
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Jesus joins lies to murderous opposition and a chosen pattern of desire. The confrontation addresses specific opponents and must never become a claim that Jewish ethnicity is diabolical.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
The lie is embodied in a worship exchange that gives creation the allegiance due its Creator. Falsehood is liturgical and relational, not merely an incorrect proposition.
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.
Truthful speech follows the putting off of the old self and rests on shared membership. Deception damages a body whose members depend on one another's trustworthy words.
The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,
Power and signs do not authenticate their own source. The wonder serves falsehood, so communities must test claims rather than equating spectacle with divine approval.
For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,
The judgment follows refusal to love the truth in the preceding verse. The passage is a warning against persistent rejection, not permission to manipulate people or declare every disagreement divinely deluded.
I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth.
John reassures readers of known truth while drawing a sharp source distinction. A false christological claim cannot be generated by or reconciled with the truth they received.
And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.
The BSB renders the negated noun phrase not a lie as genuine. The verse supports abiding in apostolic truth, not isolation from all teachers, communal testing, or accountable learning.
And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
Truthful speech characterizes those who follow the Lamb amid beastly propaganda. Blamelessness is covenant fidelity and must not become a claim of omniscience or inability to make an honest mistake.
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
The holy city's exclusion of practiced falsehood belongs to John's final vision under the Lamb's authority. It does not authorize present communities to purge or harm alleged liars.
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Falsehood is both loved and practiced, indicating settled allegiance rather than one corrected error. The apocalyptic boundary calls readers to repentance and truthful life.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Falsehood as deliberate deception opposed to truth; Satan's fundamental characteristic in John's theology.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a lie
Read versea lie
Read versea lie
Read versea lie
Read versea lie
Read versea lie
Read versea lie
Read versea lie
Read versea lie
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 4 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 10 lexical occurrence verses.
ψεῦδος is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G5579 makes falsehood relational. Jesus links lies with murderous desire, Paul describes an idolatrous exchange of Creator truth for creature worship, and Ephesians commands believers to put off falsehood because they are members of one another. Second Thessalonians warns that impressive power can serve a lie, while First John locates truth in abiding apostolic confession and Revelation portrays truthful speech as allegiance to the Lamb.
Faithful churches therefore value evidence, precise wording, visible correction, protected reporting, and the humility to say unknown. They also protect confidentiality and refuse demands for information the questioner has no right to possess. John 8 must never be used to demonize Jewish people, and Revelation must never become a warrant for purging alleged deceivers.
Truth serves love, justice, worship, and shared life; it is not a weapon for surveillance or domination.
Eph.4.25
G5579 is a neuter noun occurring in nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative singular forms. The BSB usually renders it lie or falsehood; in 1 John 2:27 the negated phrase is expressed positively as genuine. The noun identifies false content or a practiced false way, while context supplies intent, object, spiritual source, and social consequence.
Torah forbids false witness and reports, the prophets expose lying visions and idolatrous trust, and wisdom condemns deceptive speech. The New Testament places those duties within union with Christ, membership in one body, spiritual discernment, and final allegiance to the Lamb. Truth remains covenantal, worshipful, and protective of neighbors.