English Standard Version
Psalms 12:4
4those who say, "With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?"
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?”
- New King James Version (NKJV)Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us?”
- New Living Translation (NLT)They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
Context of Psalms 12:4
2Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. 3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, "With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?" 5"Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise," says the Lord; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs." 6The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
Read all of Psalms 12Psalms 12:4 word by word
אֲשֶׁ֤ר אָֽמְר֨וּ׀ לִלְשֹׁנֵ֣נוּ נַ֭גְבִּיר שְׂפָתֵ֣ינוּ אִתָּ֑נוּ מִ֖י אָד֣וֹן לָֽנוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 12:4
- Jeremiah 18:18Then they said, "Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words."
- James 3:5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
- Genesis 3:5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
- Exodus 5:2But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go."
- Job 21:14They say to God, 'Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
- Jeremiah 2:31And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, 'We are free, we will come no more to you'?
- Daniel 3:15Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?"
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be 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
In the dictionaries
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries