New English Translation
Psalms 12:4
4They say, “We speak persuasively; we know how to flatter and boast. Who is 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
2People lie to one another; they flatter and deceive. 3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts! They say, “We speak persuasively; we know how to flatter and boast. Who is our master?” 5“Because of the violence done to the oppressed, because of the painful cries of the needy, I will spring into action,” says the Lord. “I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” 6The Lord’s words are absolutely reliable. They are as untainted as silver purified in a furnace on the ground, where it is thoroughly refined.
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 some people said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”
- James 3:5So too the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it has great pretensions. Think how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze.
- Genesis 3:5for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.”
- Exodus 5:2But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by releasing Israel? I do not know the Lord, and I will not release Israel!”
- Job 21:14So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us! We do not want to know your ways.
- Jeremiah 2:31You people of this generation, listen to what the Lord says. “Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel? Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? Why then do you say, ‘We are free to wander. We will not come to you any more?’
- Daniel 3:15Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as 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
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