New English Translation
Psalms 140:3
3Their tongues wound like a serpent; a viper’s venom is behind 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
1O Lord, rescue me from wicked men! Protect me from violent men, 2who plan ways to harm me. All day long they stir up conflict. Their tongues wound like a serpent; a viper’s venom is behind their lips. (Selah) 4O Lord, shelter me from the power of the wicked! Protect me from violent men, who plan to knock me over. 5Proud men hide a snare for me; evil men spread a net by the path; they set traps 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 carries out your destructive plans; it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.
- Psalms 57:4I am surrounded by lions; I lie down among those who want to devour me; men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are a sharp sword.
- Psalms 59:7Look, they hurl insults at me and openly threaten to kill me, for they say, “Who hears?”
- Psalms 64:3They sharpen their tongues like a sword; they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge,
- Proverbs 12:18Speaking recklessly is like the thrusts of a sword, but the words of the wise bring healing.
- Isaiah 59:3For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with sin; your lips speak lies, your tongue utters malicious words.
- Jeremiah 9:3The Lord says, “These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows. Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. They have become powerful in the land, but they have not done so by honest means. Indeed, they do one evil thing after another and do not pay attention to me.
- James 3:6And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell.
- Genesis 3:13So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
- Proverbs 23:32Afterward it bites like a snake, and stings like a viper.
- Matthew 12:34Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
- Psalms 58:4Their venom is like that of a snake, like a deaf serpent that does not hear,
- Romans 3:13“Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues, the poison 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
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Commentaries