James 3:6

3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ¹  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ²  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ³ 

Psalms 55:21

55:21 His words are as smooth as butter, ⁴ 

but he harbors animosity in his heart. ⁵ 

His words seem softer than oil,

but they are really like sharp swords. ⁶ 

Psalms 57:4

57:4 I am surrounded by lions;

I lie down ⁷  among those who want to devour me; ⁸ 

men whose teeth are spears and arrows,

whose tongues are a sharp sword. ⁹ 

Psalms 59:7

59:7 Look, they hurl insults at me

and openly threaten to kill me, ¹⁰ 

for they say, ¹¹ 

“Who hears?”

Psalms 64:3-4

64:3 They ¹²  sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ¹³ 

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent ¹⁴  in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ¹⁵ 

[3:6]  ¹ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ² tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ³ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[55:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “the butter-like [words] of his mouth are smooth.” The noun מַחְמָאֹת (makhma’ot, “butter-like [words]”) occurs only here. Many prefer to emend the form to מֵחֶמְאָה (mekhem’ah, from [i.e., “than”] butter”), cf. NEB, NRSV “smoother than butter.” However, in this case “his mouth” does not agree in number with the plural verb חָלְקוּ (kholqu, “they are smooth”). Therefore some further propose an emendation of פִּיו (piv, “his mouth”) to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”). In any case, the point seems to that the psalmist’s former friend spoke kindly to him and gave the outward indications of friendship.

[55:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and war [is in] his heart.”

[55:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.”

[57:4]  ⁷ tn The cohortative form אֶשְׁכְּבָה (’eshkÿvah, “I lie down”) is problematic, for it does not seem to carry one of the normal functions of the cohortative (resolve or request). One possibility is that the form here is a “pseudo-cohortative” used here in a gnomic sense (IBHS 576-77 §34.5.3b).

[57:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew verb לָהַט (lahat) is here understood as a hapax legomenon meaning “devour” (see HALOT 521 s.v. II להט), a homonym of the more common verb meaning “to burn.” A more traditional interpretation takes the verb from this latter root and translates, “those who are aflame” (see BDB 529 s.v.; cf. NASB “those who breathe forth fire”).

[57:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “my life, in the midst of lions, I lie down, devouring ones, sons of mankind, their teeth a spear and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.” The syntax of the verse is difficult. Another option is to take “my life” with the preceding verse. For this to make sense, one must add a verb, perhaps “and may he deliver” (cf. the LXX), before the phrase. One might then translate, “May God send his loyal love and faithfulness and deliver my life.” If one does take “my life” with v. 4, then the parallelism of v. 5 is altered and one might translate: “in the midst of lions I lie down, [among] men who want to devour me, whose teeth….”

[59:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “look, they gush forth with their mouth, swords [are] in their lips.”

[59:7]  ¹¹ tn The words “for they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The following question (“Who hears?”) is spoken by the psalmist’s enemies, who are confident that no one else can hear their threats against the psalmist. They are aggressive because they feel the psalmist is vulnerable and has no one to help him.

[64:3]  ¹² tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[64:4]  ¹⁴ tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.