The ninth commandment says, “you shall not bear false witness,” but what does “false witness” mean? False witness is any misrepresentation of reality that hurts another person in any way, regardless of intention. This means that if you say something false, a partial truth, or a twisting of the truth that hurts someone else, that is being a false witness. Whether that’s physically, professionally, financially, emotionally, psychologically, or reputationally. Whether you meant to hurt them or not. Whether you knew your words were false or not. You have borne false witness.