Psalms 12:4

Psalms 12:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
• New International Version (NIV)those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”
• English Standard Version (ESV)those who say, "With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?"
• New King James Version (NKJV)Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us?”

Context of Psalms 12:4

2They speak deceitful and worthless words to one another; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. 3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things [in boasting]; Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; who is lord and master over us?” 5“Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” 6The words and promises of the Lord are pure words, Like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times.

Psalms 12:4 word by word

אֲשֶׁ֤ר אָֽמְר֨וּ׀ לִלְשֹׁנֵ֣נוּ נַ֭גְבִּיר שְׂפָתֵ֣ינוּ אִתָּ֑נוּ מִ֖י אָד֣וֹן לָֽנוּ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Who have saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• With our tongueלָשׁוֹןlâshôn lâshôn leshônâh · tongueH3956
• will we prevailגָּבַרgâbar · to prevailH1396
• our lipsשָׂפָהώâphâh ώepheth · lipsH8193
• lordאָדוֹן'âdôn 'âdôn · lordH113

Cross-references for Psalms 12:4

• Jeremiah 18:18Then [my enemies] said, “Come and let us work out schemes against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest [as Jeremiah predicts], nor the counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with our tongue [by making charges against him before the king], and let us ignore anything he says.”
• James 3:5In the same sense, the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See [by comparison] how great a forest is set on fire by a small spark!
• Genesis 3:5For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened [that is, you will have greater awareness], and you will be like God, knowing [the difference between] good and evil.”
• Exodus 5:2But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.”
• Job 21:14Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
• Jeremiah 2:31O generation [that you are], consider and regard carefully the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food], A land of thick and deep darkness [like a path without light]? Why do My people say, ‘We [have broken loose and we] are free to roam [at will]; We will no longer come to You’?
• Daniel 3:15Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image which I have made, very good. But if you do not worship, you shall be thrown at once into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can rescue you out of my hands?”
• 2 Thessalonians 2:4who opposes and exalts himself [so proudly and so insolently] above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he [actually enters and] takes his seat in the temple of God, publicly proclaiming that he himself is God.

Commentaries on Psalms 12:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Our lips are our own - Many think, because they have the faculty of speaking, that therefore they may speak what they please. Old MS - The qwilk sayd, our toung we sal wyrchip, our lippes er of us, qwas our Lorde? Tha Ypocrites worchepes thair toung; for that hee tham self janglyng and settes in thaire pouste to do mykil thyng and grete: and thai rose tham that thair lippes that es thair facund and thair wyls er of tham self, nought of God, ne of haly…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Who have said - Who habitually say. This does not mean that they had formally and openly said this - for none would be likely to do so - but that they had practically and really said this by their conduct. They acted as if it were the real principle on which they framed their lives, that they might use their tongues as they pleased. With our tongue - literally, “as to,” or “in respect to our tongue;” that is, by our tongue. It was by the tongue that they…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4The words they say reveal the character of the wicked. They deceive and overpower the godly and arrogantly question the Lord’s purposes.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3-43-4. Boasting (Da 7:25) is, like flattery, a species of lying. lips, and ... tongue--for persons.Read the comment

Topics related to Psalms 12:4

• Infidelity
• Pride
• Speaking

In the dictionaries

• Double
• Fail
• Joy
• Jude, the Epistle of
• Music
• Papyrus
• Psalms, Book of

Commentaries on Psalms 12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• The Treasury of David
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings