New International Version
Psalms 140:3
3They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.
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.
- 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
- 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
1Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers; protect me from the violent, 2who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips. 4Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet. 5The arrogant have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path.
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 52:2You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor.
- Psalms 57:4I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts— men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
- Psalms 59:7See what they spew from their mouths— the words from their lips are sharp as swords, and they think, “Who can hear us?”
- Psalms 64:3They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.
- Proverbs 12:18The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- Isaiah 59:3For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
- Jeremiah 9:3“They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the Lord.
- James 3:6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
- Genesis 3:13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- Proverbs 23:32In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
- Matthew 12:34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
- Psalms 58:4Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
- Romans 3:13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on 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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