God’s Word Translation
Psalms 12:4
4that has said, “We will overcome with our tongues. With lips such as ours, who can be our master?”
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
2All people speak foolishly. They speak with flattering lips. They say one thing but mean another. 3May the Lord cut off every flattering lip and every bragging tongue that has said, “We will overcome with our tongues. With lips such as ours, who can be our master?” 5“Because oppressed people are robbed and needy people groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will provide safety for those who long for it.” 6The promises of the Lord are pure, like silver refined in a furnace and 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, “Let’s plot against Jeremiah, because the teachings of the priests, the advice of wise people, and the word of the prophets won’t disappear. Accuse him! Pay no attention to anything he says.”
- James 3:5In the same way the tongue is a small part of the body, but it can brag about doing important things. A large forest can be set on fire by a little flame.
- Genesis 3:5“God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened. You’ll be like God, knowing good and evil.”
- Exodus 5:2Pharaoh asked, “Who is the Lord? Why should I obey him and let Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and I won’t let Israel go.”
- Job 21:14But they say to God, ‘Leave us alone. We don’t want to know your ways.
- Jeremiah 2:31“Consider the Lord’s word, people of this generation. Haven’t I been a desert, a land of thick darkness, for Israel? Why do my people say that they are free to wander around and no longer come to me?
- Daniel 3:15When you hear the sound of the rams’ horns, flutes, lyres, harps, and three-stringed harps playing at the same time with all other kinds of instruments, will you bow down and worship the gold statue I made? If you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. What god can save you from my power then?”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4He opposes every so-called god or anything that is worshiped and places himself above them, sitting in God’s temple and claiming 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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