10:7 His mouth is full of curses and deceptive, harmful words; 1
his tongue injures and destroys. 2
45:16 Your 3 sons will carry 4 on the dynasty of your ancestors; 5
you will make them princes throughout the land.
140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; 6
a viper’s 7 venom is behind 8 their lips. (Selah)
1 tn Heb “[with] a curse his mouth is full, and lies and injury.”
2 tn Heb “under his tongue are destruction and wickedness.” The words translated “destruction and wickedness” are also paired in Ps 90:10. They also appear in proximity in Pss 7:14 and 55:10.
3 tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.
4 tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive and the statement interpreted as a prayer, “May your sons carry on the dynasty of your ancestors!” The next line could then be taken as a relative clause, “[your sons] whom you will make princes throughout the land.”
5 tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”
5 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.”
6 tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.
7 tn Heb “under.”