English Standard Version
Psalms 140:3
3They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. 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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah
- New Living Translation (NLT)Their tongues sting like a snake; the venom of a viper drips from their lips. Interlude
Context of Psalms 140:3
1Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, 2who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually. They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah 4Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet. 5The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net; beside the way they have 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 52:2Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
- Psalms 57:4My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts— the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
- Psalms 59:7There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips— for "Who," they think, "will hear us?"
- Psalms 64:3who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows,
- Proverbs 12:18There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, 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; your tongue mutters wickedness.
- Jeremiah 9:3They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord.
- James 3:6And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
- Genesis 3:13Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
- Proverbs 23:32In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
- Matthew 12:34You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
- Psalms 58:4They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
- Romans 3:13"Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps 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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries