Greek word · G5571

ψευδής

pseudēs

false

False or untrue, of statements and claims. Of persons, lying or deceitful.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 24, 2026

What it means

ψευδής, -ές

(ψεύδομαι), [in LXX for שֶׁקֶר, שָׁוְא, כָּזָב; etc. ;]

lying, false, untrue (of persons and things): Revelation 2:2; μάρτυρες, Acts 6:13; as subst., ὁ ψ., a liar: Revelation 21:8.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: False or untrue, of statements and claims. Of persons, lying or deceitful.
Against the English: 'Liars' (KJV, YLT, BSB) stresses the moral charge. 'False' (WEB, NIV, ESV, NASB) can mean both that the claim was untrue and that the people were frauds. The Greek allows both.
Used elsewhere in the period: In Revelation 21:8, 'all liars (ψευδέσιν)' appear among those outside the new Jerusalem. Acts 6:13 has 'false witnesses (μάρτυρας ψευδεῖς)'. Revelation also has the 'false prophet' (ψευδοπροφήτης, 16:13; 19:20).

Range of meaning: False, lying, deceitful. Used of statements, people, prophets, and witnesses.
Against the English: "False" is accurate. Readers sometimes assume it means the witnesses made the charges up from nothing. In Luke's framing the falseness can also lie in twisting real words into a criminal charge.
Used elsewhere in the period: Exodus 20:16 LXX uses the related verb: "you shall not bear false witness" (οὐ ψευδομαρτυρήσεις). Mark 14:56–58 and Matthew 26:59–61 describe false witnesses at Jesus' trial who claim he said he would destroy the temple. Luke's Gospel leaves that charge out of Jesus' trial and brings it in here.

Acts · 1

Acts 6:13 ψευδεῖς false

where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

Here: Luke, as narrator, tells the reader up front that the testimony is false. That breaks the ninth commandment and sets up the irony of Deuteronomy 19, where a false witness is to receive the penalty he meant for the accused.

Revelation · 2

Revelation 2:2 ψευδεῖς. false.

I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.

Here: 'False': their claim was a lie and they were liars. In Revelation 21:8 the same word ('all liars') names those excluded from the new city, so it is a weighty label.
Revelation 21:8 ψευδέσιν, liars,

But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

Here: "The false, the liars." These are people whose character belongs to falsehood: false apostles (2:2), those who "say they are Jews and are not, but lie" (3:9), and followers of the False Prophet. Compare 22:15, "everyone who loves and practises a lie."

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.