Slander in the Bible

Comes from the evil heart

Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

⇒Bible Encyclopedia for SLANDER.

Often arises from hatred

Psalm 109:3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.

⇒Definition of slander

Idleness leads to

1 Timothy 5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

⇒"Slander" Bible Outline

Evil people addicted to

Psalm 50:20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.

Hypocrites habitually

Proverbs 11:9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

A characteristic of the Devil

Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Wicked people love

Psalm 52:4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

Those who indulge in, are fools

Proverbs 10:18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

Women warned against

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

Wives of God's servants should avoid

1 Timothy 3:11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

Christ was exposed to

Psalm 35:11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
Matthew 26:60 But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,

Rulers exposed to

Jude 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Servants of God exposed to

Romans 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
2 Corinthians 6:8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

The nearest relations exposed to

Psalm 50:20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.

Saints exposed to

Psalm 38:12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.
Psalm 109:2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
Also 1 Peter 4:4.

Saints should keep their tongues from

Psalm 34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
1 Peter 3:10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

Saints should lay aside

Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Should be warned against

Titus 3:1-2 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

Should give no occasion for

1 Peter 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
1 Peter 3:16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

Should return good for

1 Corinthians 4:13 Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

Blessed in enduring

Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Characterized as avoiding

Psalm 15:1 LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Psalm 15:3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

Should not be listened to

1 Samuel 24:9 And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

Causes anger

Proverbs 25:23 The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.

Effects of

Separating friends

Proverbs 16:28 A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.
Proverbs 17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Deadly wounds

Proverbs 18:8 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
Proverbs 26:22 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

Strife

Proverbs 26:20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.

Discord among brethren

Proverbs 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Murder

Psalm 31:13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
Ezekiel 22:9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

The tongue of, is a scourge

Job 5:21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

Is venomous

Psalm 140:3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
Ecclesiastes 10:11 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.

Is destructive

Proverbs 11:9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

End of, is mischievous madness

Ecclesiastes 10:13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

People shall give account for

Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Punishment for

Deuteronomy 19:16-21 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; 17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; 18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; 19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. ...

UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO

Exodus 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Deuteronomy 22:13-19 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, 14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: 15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: 16 And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; ...
Also Job 5:21; Psalm 41:6-9; 50:20; 101:5; Proverbs 10:18; 25:23; Jeremiah 6:28; 9:4; Romans 1:29-30; 1 Corinthians 4:13; 6:10; 2 Corinthians 12:20; James 4:11; 1 Peter 2:1; 2 Peter 2:10.

INSTANCES OF

Joseph by Potiphar's wife

Genesis 39:14-18 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: 15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out. 16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home. 17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me: ...

The land of Canaan misrepresented by the spies

Numbers 14:36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,

Of Mephiboseth, by Ziba

2 Samuel 16:3 And the king said, And where is thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.
2 Samuel 19:24-30 And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace. 25 And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? 26 And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame. 27 And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes. ...

Of David, by his enemies

Psalm 31:13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
Psalm 35:21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
Also Psalm 41:5; 64:3; 140:3.

Of Naboth, by Jezebel

1 Kings 21:9-14 And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: 10 And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. 11 And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. ...

Of Jeremiah, by the Jews

Jeremiah 18:18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

Of Jesus, by the Jews falsely charging that he was a winebibber (wino)

Matthew 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

That he blasphemed

Mark 14:64 Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

That he had a demon

John 8:48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
John 8:52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
Also John 10:20.

That he was seditious

Luke 22:65 And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.
Luke 23:5 And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.

That he was a king

Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Also John 19:1-5.

Of Paul

See PAUL

See ACCUSATION, FALSE

See FALSE WITNESS

See FALSEHOOD

See SPEAKING EVIL