What is the punishment for lying?

A lie, or any word designed to slander any one, he abominated, as one who knew that lies come from the devil, and that the Lord will destroy all that utter a lie.

Basil of Caesarea, The Letters 207

Thou shall not speak evil; for says He, “Love not to speak evil, lest thou beest taken away.” … Thou shalt not tell lies: for says He, “Thou shalt destroy all those that speak lies.”

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, Constitutions of the Holy Apostles 8.1

“For unrighteous witnesses have risen up against me.” … And since my Lord hath first suffered these things, if I too despise the tongues of the dying (“for the mouth that lieth slayeth the soul” ), I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living, where there is no place for falsity.

Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Book of Psalms 27

Cleanse thy tongue from falsehood, because “a mouth which tells lies destroys the soul”: cleanse it from detraction, from swearing, and from perjury.

Sulpitius Severus, The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus 2.10

The mouth which lies slays the soul (Wisd. i. 11), and that we chant with truth before God, Thou wilt destroy all those who speak falsehood (Ps. v. 6) … If it were otherwise with me, with what front could I dare to lie in the presence of God and His angels, when singing that verse from the Psalm: I will render unto Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered (Ps. lvi. 13, 14).

Bernard of Clairvaux, Some Letters of Saint Bernard 3

“For thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” But those who act contrary to these things—the avaricious, the liars, the hypocrites, those who make merchandise of the truth—the Lord cast out of His Father’s court, not willing that the holy house of God should be the house of unrighteous traffic either in words or in material things.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 3.11

With false deceitful people, that scruple not to tell lies, or commit frauds ( v. 7 ): " He that worketh deceit, though he may insinuate himself into my family, yet, as soon as he is discovered, shall not dwell within my house. " Some great men know how to serve their own purposes by such as are skilful to deceive, and they are fit tools for them to work by; but David will make use of no such persons as agents for him: He that tells lies shall not tarry in my sight, but shall be expelled the house with indignation. Herein David was a man after God's own heart, for a proud look and a lying tongue are things which God hates; and he was also a type of Christ, who will, in the great day, banish from his presence all that love and make a lie, Rev. xxii. 15 .

Matthew Henry, Commentary on Psalms 101.1

“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, which my Father hath prepared.” And John says, “Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever maketh and loveth a lie; for your part is in the hell of fire.”

Hippolytus of Rome, The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus 2.1

Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolators, and whosoever loveth and practiseth a lie] These are not on the new earth. They are "without," and, according to xxi. 8, will have then been cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.

E.W. Bullinger, Commentary on Revelation 21

But a man on whom necessity imposes the responsibility of lying is bound to use very great care, and to use falsehood as he would a stimulant or a medicine, and strictly to preserve its measure, and not go beyond the bounds observed by Judith in her dealings with Holofernes, whom she overcame by the wisdom with which she dissembled her words. He should act like Esther who changed the purpose of Artaxerxes by having so long concealed the truth as to her race; and still more the patriarch Jacob who, as we read, obtained the blessing of his father by artifice and falsehood. From all this it is evident that if we speak falsely with any other object than that of obtaining by it some great good, we shall be judged as the enemies of him who said, I am the truth.” … His teaching is that the master may lie, but the disciple must not.

Rufinus of Aquileia, Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus 12.1.19

On the contrary, Augustine says on Ps. 5:7, "Thou wilt destroy," etc.: "There are two kinds of lie, that are not grievously sinful yet are not devoid of sin, when we lie either in joking, or for the sake of our neighbor's good." But every mortal sin is grievous. Therefore jocose and officious lies are not mortal sins. I answer that, A mortal sin is, properly speaking, one that is contrary to charity whereby the soul lives in union with God, as stated above ( Q[24], A[12] ; Q[35], A[3] ).

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II.Q110.A4

A lying tongue, that puts false colours upon things, is but for a moment. The lie will be disproved. The liar, when he comes to be examined, will be found in several stories, and not consistent with himself as he is that speaks truth; and, when he is found in a lie, he cannot gain his point, nor will he afterwards be credited.

Matthew Henry, Commentary on Proverbs 12.19

Evil speakers must expect to be shaken, for they shall never be established in the earth. What is got by fraud and falsehood, by calumny and unjust accusation, will not prosper, will not last. … A lying tongue is but for a moment, but the lip of truth shall be established for ever. … Mischievous men will be brought to light, and brought to ruin; the destruction appointed shall run them down and overthrow them.

Matthew Henry, Commentary on Psalms 140.2

Deceit will at last be exposed, and the wicked by their own arts often bring on retribution (compare Pr 12:13; Ps 7:16; 9:17, &c.).

Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Proverbs 26

The expression seven times is therefore introduced because of its connexion with this present world for men who love this world ought specially to be punished in the things for the sake of which they have chosen to live wicked lives. … “Let us go into the field:” the third is murder , a further wickedness: the fourth, fratricide , a still greater iniquity: the fifth that he committed the first murder , and set a bad example to mankind: the sixth wrong in that he grieved his parents: the seventh, his lie to God; for when he was asked, “Where is Abel thy brother?” he replied, “I know not.” Seven sins were therefore avenged in the destruction of Cain.

Basil of Caesarea, The Letters 260

Lastly , the chief of the apostles, taught by these instances, and knowing that one who has any avarice cannot bridle it, and that it cannot be put an end to by a large or small sum of money, but only by the virtue of renunciation of everything, punished with death Ananias and Sapphira, who were mentioned before, because they had kept back something out of their property, that that death which Judas had voluntarily met with for the sin of betraying the Lord, they might also undergo for their lying avarice. How closely do the sin and punishment correspond in each case! In the one case treachery, in the other falsehood, was the result of covetousness. In the one case the truth is betrayed, in the other the sin of lying is committed.

John Cassian, The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 7.25

Consider what a poor refuge is secrecy to a sinner. … Shall Gehazi tell a lie, and comfort himself with an imagination of his master’s ignorance, as long as God knows it? Whatsoever works men do, are not hid from God, whether done in the darkness or daylight, in the midnight darkness, or the noon‑day sun: he is all eye to see, and he hath a great wrath to punish.

Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God 8

1. And the way of death is this: First of all it is evil and full of curse: murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magic arts, witchcrafts, rapines, false witnessings, hypocrisies, double-heartedness, deceit, haughtiness, depravity, self-will, greediness, filthy talking, jealousy, over-confidence, loftiness, boastfulness; 2. persecutors of the good, hating truth, loving a lie, not knowing a reward for righteousness, not cleaving to good nor to righteous judgment, watching not for that which is good, but for that which is evil; from whom meekness and endurance are far, loving vanities, pursuing requital, not pitying a poor man, not labouring for the afflicted, not knowing Him that made them, murderers of children, destroyers of the handiwork of God, turning away from him that is in want, afflicting him that is distressed, advocates of the rich, lawless judges of the poor, utter sinners.

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles 3.5

And now, my children, I am dying, and I tell you of a truth, that unless ye keep yourselves from the spirit of lying and of anger, and love truth and long-suffering, ye shall perish.

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 9

And I think that just as a man commits adultery in his heart only, though not proceeding altogether to the overt act, so he commits in his heart the rest of the things which are forbidden. As then he who has committed adultery in his heart will be punished proportionately to adultery of this kind, so also he who has done in his heart any one of the things forbidden, for example, who has stolen in his heart only, or borne false witness in his heart only, will not be punished as he who has stolen in fact, or who has completed the very act of false testimony, but only as he who has done such things in his heart.

Origen of Alexandria, Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 2.5.7

The sins of lying, of lust, of fraud, of cruelty, of impiety, of anger, God rebukes and finds fault with, and no one is converted to innocency. Lo, those things are happening which were before foretold by the words of God; nor is any one admonished by the belief of things present to take thought for what is to come. Amongst those very misfortunes wherein the soul, closely bound and shut up, can scarcely breathe, there is still found opportunity for men to be evil, and in such great dangers to judge not so much of themselves as of others. You are indignant that God is angry, as if by an evil life you were deserving any good, as if all things of that kind which happen were not infinitely less and of smaller account than your sins.

Cyprian of Carthage, The Treatises of Cyprian 5

The perjured person shall be a mourner two years, a hearer three, a prostrator four, a co-stander one.

Appendix containing Canons and Rulings not having Conciliar Origin but Approved by Name in Canon II. of the Synod in Trullo, Appendix containing Canons and Rulings not having Conciliar Origin but Approved by Name in Canon II. of the Synod in Trullo 13

Call not yourselves righteous, as though ye had no cause to say, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” Though ye abstain from idolatry, from the consolations of astrologers, from the cures of enchanters, though ye abstain from the seductions of heretics, from the divisions of schismatics; though ye abstain from murders, from adulteries and fornications, from thefts and plunderings, from false witnessings, and all such other sins which I do not name, as have a ruinous consequence, for which it is necessary that the sinner be cut off from the altar, and be so bound in earth, as to be bound in heaven, to his great and deadly danger, unless again he be so loosed in earth, as to be loosed in heaven; yet after all these are excepted, still there is no want of occasions whereby a man may sin.

Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 8