Deuteronomy 19:16
Deuteronomy 19:1616If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,
is rarely cited in JW publications, while the immediately preceding verse (19:15, the two-witness rule) is foundational to the Watchtower's judicial-committee and abuse-handling procedures. The omission matters: v.16 introduces the "malicious witness" provision and the surrounding context (vv.16-21) prescribes "diligent investigation" by priests and judges — language that reframes the two-witness rule as a public courtroom safeguard, not a reason to refuse hearing a single child's disclosure of abuse.
Verse 16 introduces the "malicious witness" clause and frames the two-witness rule (v.15) as functioning inside a public courtroom in ancient Israel. The rule's purpose was to prevent a single false accuser from destroying a neighbour's life by perjury — the only failure mode available in a pre-forensic era. The provisions in vv.17-21 require priests and judges to conduct "diligent investigation," establishing the rule as a legal-process safeguard, not a categorical refusal to hear uncorroborated witnesses. The Watchtower's lifting of v.15 out of this context to refuse police involvement in child sexual abuse cases ignores the very next verse, which provides the courtroom setting the rule was written for — a setting that today is met by police investigation under .