 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour" is the ninth commandment (the designation varies between religions) of the Ten Commandments, which are widely understood as moral imperatives by Jewish scholars, Catholic scholars, and Post-Reformation scholars.Today, most cultures retain a distinction between lying in general (which is discouraged under most, but not all, circumstances) versus perjury (which is always unlawful under criminal law and liable to punishment).