Psalms 41:7

41:7 All who hate me whisper insults about me to one another; ¹ 

they plan ways to harm me.

Proverbs 16:28

16:28 A perverse person ²  spreads dissension,

and a gossip separates the closest friends. ³ 

Romans 1:29

1:29 They are filled ⁴  with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with ⁵  envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,

¹ tn Heb “together against me they whisper, all those who hate me.” The Hitpael of לָחַשׁ (lakhash) refers here to whispering to one another (see 2 Sam 12:19).

² tn Heb “a man of perverse things”; NAB “an intriguer.” This refers to someone who destroys lives. The parallelism suggests that he is a “slanderer” or “gossip” – one who whispers and murmurs (18:8; 26:20, 22).

³ tn The term אַלּוּף (’aluf) refers to a “friend” or “an intimate associate.” The word has other possible translations, including “tame” or “docile” when used of animals. Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 1040-1105, took it in the later sense of “prince,” saying that such speech alienates the Prince, namely God. But that is a forced interpretation of the line.

⁴ tn Grk “being filled” or “having been filled,” referring to those described in v. 28. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁵ tn Grk “malice, full of,” continuing the description. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.