A man walks up to you in the market with a story. His neighbor, he says, has wronged him. He needs someone to stand with him at the gate, to nod when he speaks, to lend weight to his words. He is persuasive. He is wounded. He is, you will discover, lying.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:1) warns before the conversation begins: Sons of Israel My people, take not up lying words from a man who accuseth his neighbour before thee, nor put thine hand with the wicked to become a false witness.
Two Failures Named in One Verse
The Targum names two distinct dangers. First, absorbing lies — listening to an accuser's distorted account and carrying it forward as if you heard it yourself. Second, actively joining with the wicked — stepping into court beside him, raising your hand to swear to what you do not know.
The phrase put thine hand with the wicked captures the mechanics of false testimony. It is often not a dramatic act. It is a small lending of credibility. A nod. A stamp. A willingness to sign your name to a document you did not read carefully.
Why Passivity Is Complicity
The Torah's concern is not only with the person who fabricates. It is with the person who amplifies — who transmits a wounded neighbor's distorted testimony without testing it, who loans his reputation to another's rage.
The Takeaway
Justice depends on witnesses who will not be borrowed by the loudest voice in the room. The Torah calls you to slow down, to question the story, and to refuse the hand that wants your hand when you have not seen what it claims.