Discovery BoxJeremiah 9:5
Context9:5 One friend deceives another
and no one tells the truth.
These people have trained themselves 1 to tell lies.
They do wrong and are unable to repent.
Jeremiah 9:8
Context9:8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. 2
They are always telling lies. 3
Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths.
But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. 4
Psalms 52:2-4
Context52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; 5
it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. 6
52:3 You love evil more than good,
lies more than speaking the truth. 7 (Selah)
52:4 You love to use all the words that destroy, 8
and the tongue that deceives.
Psalms 64:3-4
Context64:3 They 9 sharpen their tongues like a sword;
they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, 10
64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent 11 in secluded places.
They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. 12
Psalms 120:2-4
Context120:2 I said, 13 “O Lord, rescue me 14
from those who lie with their lips 15
and those who deceive with their tongue. 16
120:3 How will he severely punish you,
you deceptive talker? 17
120:4 Here’s how! 18 With the sharp arrows of warriors,
with arrowheads forged over the hot coals. 19
Isaiah 59:3-5
Context59:3 For your hands are stained with blood
and your fingers with sin;
your lips speak lies,
your tongue utters malicious words.
59:4 No one is concerned about justice; 20
no one sets forth his case truthfully.
They depend on false words 21 and tell lies;
they conceive of oppression 22
and give birth to sin.
59:5 They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake
and spin a spider’s web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die,
a poisonous snake is hatched. 23
Isaiah 59:13-15
Context59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;
we turned back from following our God.
We stir up 24 oppression and rebellion;
we tell lies we concocted in our minds. 25
59:14 Justice is driven back;
godliness 26 stands far off.
Indeed, 27 honesty stumbles in the city square
and morality is not even able to enter.
59:15 Honesty has disappeared;
the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed.
The Lord watches and is displeased, 28
for there is no justice.
Micah 7:3-5
Context7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; 29
government officials and judges take bribes, 30
prominent men make demands,
and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. 31
7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;
the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. 32
The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –
your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, 33
and then you will experience confusion. 34
7:5 Do not rely on a friend;
do not trust a companion!
Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms! 35
Romans 3:13
Context3:13 “Their throats are open graves, 36
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.” 37
[9:5] 1 tn Heb “their tongues.” However, this is probably not a natural idiom in contemporary English and the tongue may stand as a part for the whole anyway.
[9:8] 2 tc This reading follows the Masoretic consonants (the Kethib, a Qal active participle from שָׁחַט, shakhat). The Masoretes preferred to read “a sharpened arrow” (the Qere, a Qal passive participle from the same root or a homonym, meaning “hammered, beaten”). See HALOT 1354 s.v. II שָׁחַט for discussion. The exact meaning of the word makes little difference to the meaning of the metaphor itself.
[9:8] 3 tn Heb “They speak deceit.”
[9:8] 4 tn Heb “With his mouth a person speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets an ambush for him.”
[52:2] 5 tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”
[52:2] 6 tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (’asah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.
[52:3] 7 tn Or “deceit more than speaking what is right.”
[52:4] 8 tn Heb “you love all the words of swallowing.” Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallowing” in the sense of “devouring” or “destructive” (see BDB 118 s.v. בָּלַע). HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע proposes a homonym here, meaning “confusion.” This would fit the immediate context nicely and provide a close parallel to the following line, which refers to deceptive words.
[64:3] 9 tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[64:3] 10 tn Heb “a bitter word.”
[64:4] 11 tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.
[64:4] 12 tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[120:2] 13 tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the introductory note for this psalm.
[120:2] 15 tn Heb “from a lip of falsehood.”
[120:2] 16 tn Heb “from a tongue of deception.”
[120:3] 17 tn Heb “What will he give to you, and what will he add to you, O tongue of deception?” The psalmist addresses his deceptive enemies. The
[120:4] 18 tn The words “here’s how” are supplied in the translation as a clarification. In v. 4 the psalmist answers the question he raises in v. 3.
[120:4] 19 tn Heb “with coals of the wood of the broom plant.” The wood of the broom plant was used to make charcoal, which in turn was used to fuel the fire used to forge the arrowheads.
[59:4] 20 tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”
[59:4] 21 tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”
[59:4] 22 tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”
[59:5] 23 tn Heb “that which is pressed in hatches [as] a snake.”
[59:13] 24 tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[59:13] 25 tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”
[59:14] 26 tn Or “righteousness” (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NAB “justice.”
[59:14] 27 tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).
[59:15] 28 tn Heb “and it is displeasing in his eyes.”
[7:3] 29 tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”
[7:3] 30 tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”
[7:3] 31 tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.
[7:4] 32 tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.
[7:4] 33 tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”
[7:4] 34 tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”
[7:5] 35 tn Heb “from the one who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth.”
[3:13] 36 tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”
[3:13] 37 sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.
