Psalms 59:12

59:12 They speak sinful words. ¹ 

So let them be trapped by their own pride

and by the curses and lies they speak!

Psalms 140:9

140:9 As for the heads of those who surround me –

may the harm done by ²  their lips overwhelm them!

Job 15:6

15:6 Your own mouth condemns ³  you, not I;

your own lips testify against ⁴  you.

Proverbs 12:13

12:13 The evil person is ensnared ⁵  by the transgression of his speech, ⁶ 

but the righteous person escapes out of trouble. ⁷ 

Proverbs 18:7

18:7 The mouth of a fool is his ruin,

and his lips are a snare for his life. ⁸ 

Matthew 21:41

21:41 They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his portion at the harvest.”

Luke 19:22

19:22 The king ⁹  said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, ¹⁰  you wicked slave! ¹¹  So you knew, did you, that I was a severe ¹²  man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow?

¹ tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”

² tn Heb “harm of their lips.” The genitive here indicates the source or agent of the harm.

³ tn The Hiphil of this root means “declare wicked, guilty” (a declarative Hiphil), and so “condemns.”

⁴ tn The verb עָנָה (’anah) with the ל (lamed) preposition following it means “to testify against.” For Eliphaz, it is enough to listen to Job to condemn him.

⁴ tc MT reads the noun מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “bait; lure”). The LXX, Syriac and Tg. Prov 12:13 took it as a passive participle (“is ensnared”). The MT is the more difficult reading and so is preferred. The versions appear to be trying to clarify a difficult reading.

⁵ tn Heb “transgression of the lips.” The noun “lips” is a genitive of specification and it functions as a metonymy of cause for speech: sinful talk or sinning by talking. J. H. Greenstone suggests that this refers to litigation; the wicked attempt to involve the innocent (Proverbs, 131).

⁶ sn J. H. Greenstone suggests that when the wicked become involved in contradictions of testimony, the innocent is freed from the trouble. Another meaning would be that the wicked get themselves trapped by what they say, but the righteous avoid that (Proverbs, 131).

⁵ tn Heb “his soul” (so KJV, NASB, NIV).

⁶ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the nobleman of v. 12, now a king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Grk “out of your own mouth” (an idiom).

⁸ tn Note the contrast between this slave, described as “wicked,” and the slave in v. 17, described as “good.”

⁹ tn Or “exacting,” “harsh,” “hard.”