New Living Translation
Psalms 12:4
4They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
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
2Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts. 3May the Lord cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues. They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?” 5The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.” 6The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.
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 the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.”
- James 3:5In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.
- Genesis 3:5“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
- Exodus 5:2“Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”
- Job 21:14And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.
- Jeremiah 2:31“O my people, listen to the words of the Lord! Have I been like a desert to Israel? Have I been to them a land of darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘At last we are free from God! We don’t need him anymore!’
- Daniel 3:15I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is 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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