Psalms 140:3

Psalms 140:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah.
• New International Version (NIV)They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
• New King James Version (NKJV)They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah

Context of Psalms 140:3

1Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men; Protect me from violent men. 2They devise evil things in their hearts; They continually [gather together and] stir up wars. They sharpen their tongues like a serpent’s; Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah. 4Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; Protect me from violent men Who intend to trip up my steps. 5The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have set traps for me. Selah.

Psalms 140:3 word by word

שָֽׁנֲנ֣וּ לְשׁוֹנָם֮ כְּֽמוֹ־נָ֫חָ֥שׁ חֲמַ֥ת עַכְשׁ֑וּב תַּ֖חַת שְׂפָתֵ֣ימוֹ סֶֽלָה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• They have sharpenedשָׁנַןshânan · to sharpenH8150
• their tonguesלָשׁוֹןlâshôn lâshôn leshônâh · tongueH3956
• like a serpentנָחָשׁnâchâsh · serpentH5175
• adders’עַכְשׁוּב‛akshûb · viperH5919
• poisonחֵמָהchêmâh chêmâ' · rageH2534
• under their lipsשָׂפָהώâphâh ώepheth · lipsH8193
• Selahסֶ֫לָהselâh · SelahH5542

Cross-references for Psalms 140:3

• Psalms 52:2Your tongue devises destruction, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
• Psalms 57:4My life is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe out fire— The sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
• Psalms 59:7Look how they belch out [insults] with their mouths; Swords [of sarcasm, ridicule, slander, and lies] are in their lips, For they say, “Who hears us?”
• Psalms 64:3Who have sharpened their tongues like a sword. They aim venomous words as arrows,
• Proverbs 12:18There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing.
• Isaiah 59:3For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing]; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue mutters wickedness.
• Jeremiah 9:3“They bend their tongue like their bow; [Their] lies and not truth prevail and grow strong in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me,” says the Lord.
• James 3:6And the tongue is [in a sense] a fire, the very world of injustice and unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our members as that which contaminates the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life [the cycle of man’s existence], and is itself set on fire by hell (Gehenna).
• Genesis 3:13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree].”
• Proverbs 23:32At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper.
• Matthew 12:34You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
• 2 Corinthians 11:3But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of [your sincere and] pure devotion to Christ.
• Psalms 58:4Their poison is like the venom of a serpent; They are like the deaf horned viper that stops up its ear,
• Romans 3:13“Their throat is an open grave; They [habitually] deceive with their tongues.” “The venom of asps is beneath their lips.”

Commentaries on Psalms 140:3

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent - Compare the notes at Psalm 64:3. The idea here is, that since the tongue of the serpent “seems” to be sharp, pointed, adapted to penetrate (and probably the original reference in the image was derived from that idea), the wound inflicted is by the serpent‘s tongue - “as if” with a hard, penetrating point. It is now known, however, that it is by a tooth - a single tooth, made flexible for the purpose - at…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3snakes … vipers: These creatures portray the wicked as very corrupt people (see Proverbs 23:32; Isaiah 14:29; Romans 3:13).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2-52-5. This character of the wicked, and the devices planned against the pious, correspond to Psa 10:7; 31:13; 58:4, &c.Read the comment
• Rashi on Tanakh · v. 3every day they gather to wage war There will be wars in their dwellings and in their settlements.Read the comment

Topics related to Psalms 140:3

• Adder
• Afflictions and Adversities
• Asp
• Malice
• Quotations and Allusions
• Serpent
• Slander
• Speaking

In the dictionaries

• Adder
• Hunt
• Manasseh
• Poison
• Preserve
• Papyrus
• Psalms, Book of
• Serpent

Commentaries on Psalms 140

• 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
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary