Christian Standard Bible
Psalms 140:3
3They make their tongues as sharp as a snake’s bite; viper’s venom is under their lips.Selah
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, Lord, from evil men. Keep me safe from violent men 2who plan evil in their hearts. They stir up wars all day long. They make their tongues as sharp as a snake’s bite; viper’s venom is under their lips.Selah 4Protect me, Lord, from the power of the wicked. Keep me safe from violent men who plan to make me stumble. 5The proud hide a trap with ropes for me; they spread a net along the path and set snares for me.Selah
Read all of Psalms 140Psalms 140:3 word by word
שָֽׁנֲנ֣וּ לְשׁוֹנָם֮ כְּֽמוֹ־נָ֫חָ֥שׁ חֲמַ֥ת עַכְשׁ֑וּב תַּ֖חַת שְׂפָתֵ֣ימוֹ סֶֽלָה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 140:3
- Psalms 52:2Like a sharpened razor, your tongue devises destruction, working treachery.
- Psalms 57:4I am surrounded by lions; I lie down among devouring lions — people whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
- Psalms 59:7Look, they spew from their mouths — sharp words from their lips. “For who,” they say, “will hear?”
- Psalms 64:3who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim bitter words like arrows,
- Proverbs 12:18There is one who speaks rashly, like a piercing sword; but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- Isaiah 59:3For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers, with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongues mutter injustice.
- Jeremiah 9:3They bent their tongues like their bows; lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land, for they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take me into account. This is the Lord’s declaration.
- James 3:6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
- Genesis 3:13So the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- Proverbs 23:32In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
- Matthew 12:34Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
- Psalms 58:4They have venom like the venom of a snake, like the deaf cobra that stops up its ears,
- Romans 3:13Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under 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
In the dictionaries
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
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