A false witness shall not go unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape ...

There is a good song on that theme, with the meter:

/ : A fálse wítness · shall nót gò unpúnisht

and hé that spèaketh líes shall nòt escápe :/

Gód is kèeping tráck of èv'ry líe.

Thére is nò escápe, · Próverbs nìneteen fíve,

Í will tèll the trúth · for Gòd will púnish èv'ry líe

Próvèrbs nínetèen fíve.

/ : A fálse wítness · shall nót gò unpúnisht

and hé that spèaketh líes shall nòt escápe :/

Próvèrbs nínetèen fíve.

Tolkien would have loved the meter ... "odd" lines are pure Beowulf meter, where Biblical, more like later Middle English allitterative verse when added, in both cases minus the usual allitteration, "even" (indented) lines relate to odd ones in a way reminding of 3 and 6th lines of Ljodaháttr (note, an odd line here would in Ljodaháttr be noted like two lines, like 1, 2 or 4, 5, which I here separate by a middot).

And I am happy my mother taught me not to lie, and I have not lied often in my life, and the lies have already been punished very immediately.

Like the time I pretended to a Dane to be Norwegian, because Swedes were unpopular (due to Swedish neutrality vs Danish resistance, WW-II). Not a complete lie, but mainly a lie, since I am only quarter Norwegian and never grew up in Norway. And since I am mainly a Swede and didn't say that. It was punished very quickly when he quizzed me on Norwegian matters and I was "eh, well, you know I am not into sports ..." and I finished by admitting the truth.

I did not escape.

So, I can escape worse things, for the future, by not lying again.

Now, I have this from a video which polemises against English Standard Bible.

KJB Myth Busting the ESV
Dave Flang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ_ET23LqpY

While I prefer Douay Rheims (which here completely agrees with KJV, as in Proverbs 19 5, since I checked (I would not promote a KJV reference uncorrected, if disagreeing with Douay Rheims) and even KJV over ESV, on this account the judgement may have been hasty.

After the Cross agony, Jesus did take our sins below the seas (see Micah 7:19), to the netherworld and threw them back into the face of Satan.

So, perhaps the Azazel reading does not destroy but underline the typology of Christ. I think Rob Skiba would say so.

And while the song was not appropriate for liturgy, like when worshipping God in Holy Mass, it is a very good song for polemics, for reminding liars of their plight, and for extra-liturgic fun.

However, LXX here agrees with KJV and with Douay Rheims and with Vulgate:

Leviticus 16:10 and the goat upon which the lot of the scape-goat came, he shall present alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon him, so as to send him away as a scape-goat, and he shall send him into the wilderness.

As I am no Hebraist, I cannot check Masoretic version, but I think the word "azazel" may in fact be in the text.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Bibliothèque Parmentier
Ember Sabbath of Lent
11.III.2017