New King James Version
Psalms 140:3
3They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under 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 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 hearts; They continually gather together for war. They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah 4Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men, Who have purposed to make my steps stumble. 5The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have 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 devises destruction, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- Psalms 57:4My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men Who are set on fire, Whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
- Psalms 59:7Indeed, they belch with their mouth; Swords are in their lips; For they say, “Who hears?”
- Psalms 64:3Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And bend their bows to shoot their arrows—bitter words,
- Proverbs 12:18There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.
- Isaiah 59:3For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity.
- Jeremiah 9:3“And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” says the Lord.
- James 3:6And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
- Genesis 3:13And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- Proverbs 23:32At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.
- Matthew 12:34Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
- Psalms 58:4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
- Romans 3:13“Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries