32:33 Their wine is snakes’ poison,
the deadly venom of cobras.
58:4 Their venom is like that of a snake, 1
like a deaf serpent 2 that does not hear, 3
140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; 4
a viper’s 5 venom is behind 6 their lips. (Selah)
10:11 If the snake should bite before it is charmed, 7
the snake charmer 8 is in trouble. 9
3:13 “Their throats are open graves, 10
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.” 11
1 tn Heb “[there is] venom to them according to the likeness of venom of a snake.”
2 tn Or perhaps “cobra” (cf. NASB, NIV). Other suggested species of snakes are “asp” (NEB) and “adder” (NRSV).
3 tn Heb “[that] stops up its ear.” The apparent Hiphil jussive verbal form should be understood as a Qal imperfect with “i” theme vowel (see GKC 168 §63.n).
4 tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”
5 tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.
6 tn Heb “under.”
7 tn Heb “without charming.”
8 tn Heb “the master of the tongue.”
9 tn Heb “has no profit”; ASV, NAB, NRSV “there is no advantage.”
10 tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”
11 sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.
12 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.