Proverbs 12:18

12:18 Speaking recklessly ¹  is like the thrusts of a sword,

but the words ²  of the wise bring ³  healing. ⁴ 

Psalms 52:2

52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; ⁵ 

it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. ⁶ 

Psalms 55:21

55:21 His words are as smooth as butter, ⁷ 

but he harbors animosity in his heart. ⁸ 

His words seem softer than oil,

but they are really like sharp swords. ⁹ 

Psalms 57:4

57:4 I am surrounded by lions;

I lie down ¹⁰  among those who want to devour me; ¹¹ 

men whose teeth are spears and arrows,

whose tongues are a sharp sword. ¹² 

Psalms 120:3-4

120:3 How will he severely punish you,

you deceptive talker? ¹³ 

120:4 Here’s how! ¹⁴  With the sharp arrows of warriors,

with arrowheads forged over the hot coals. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 140:3

140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; ¹⁶ 

a viper’s ¹⁷  venom is behind ¹⁸  their lips. (Selah)

Jeremiah 9:3

The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them

9:3 The Lord says, ¹⁹ 

“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.

Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. ²⁰ 

They have become powerful in the land,

but they have not done so by honest means. ²¹ 

Indeed, they do one evil thing after another ²² 

and do not pay attention to me. ²³ 

Jeremiah 9:8

9:8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ²⁴ 

They are always telling lies. ²⁵ 

Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths.

But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ²⁶ 

James 3:6

3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ²⁷  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ²⁸  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ²⁹ 

[12:18]  ¹ tn The term בּוֹטֶה (boteh) means “to speak rashly [or, thoughtlessly]” (e.g., Lev 5:4; Num 30:7).

[12:18]  ² tn Heb “the tongue” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The term לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) functions as a metonymy of cause for what is said.

[12:18]  ³ tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[12:18]  ⁴ sn Healing is a metonymy of effect. Healing words are the opposite of the cutting, irresponsible words. What the wise say is faithful and true, gentle and kind, uplifting and encouraging; so their words bring healing.

[52:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”

[52:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (’asah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.

[55:21]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “and war [is in] his heart.”

[55:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.”

[57:4]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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….”

[120:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “What will he give to you, and what will he add to you, O tongue of deception?” The psalmist addresses his deceptive enemies. The Lord is the understood subject of the verbs “give” and “add.” The second part of the question echoes a standard curse formula, “thus the Lord/God will do … and thus he will add” (see Ruth 1:17; 1 Sam 3:17; 14:44; 20:13; 25:22; 2 Sam 3:9, 35; 19:13; 1 Kgs 2:23; 2 Kgs 6:31).

[120:4]  ¹⁴ tn The words “here’s how” are supplied in the translation as a clarification. In v. 4 the psalmist answers the question he raises in v. 3.

[120:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “with coals of the wood of the broom plant.” The wood of the broom plant was used to make charcoal, which in turn was used to fuel the fire used to forge the arrowheads.

[140:3]  ¹⁶ 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.”

[140:3]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.

[140:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “under.”

[9:3]  ¹⁹ tn The words “The Lord says” have been moved up from the end of the verse to make clear that a change in speaker has occurred.

[9:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “They have readied [or strung] their tongue as their bow for lies.”

[9:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “but not through honesty.”

[9:3]  ²² tn Heb “they go from evil to evil.”

[9:3]  ²³ tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” But “knowing” in Hebrew thought often involves more than intellectual knowledge; it involves emotional and volitional commitment as well. For יָדַע meaning “acknowledge” see 1 Chr 28:9; Isa 29:21; Hos 2:20; Prov 3:6. This word is also found in ancient Near Eastern treaty contexts where it has the idea of a vassal king acknowledging the sovereignty of a greater king (cf. H. Huffmon, “The Treaty Background of Hebrew yada,” BASOR 181 [1966]: 31-37).

[9:8]  ²⁴ tc This reading follows the Masoretic consonants (the Kethib, a Qal active participle from שָׁחַט, shakhat). The Masoretes preferred to read “a sharpened arrow” (the Qere, a Qal passive participle from the same root or a homonym, meaning “hammered, beaten”). See HALOT 1354 s.v. II שָׁחַט for discussion. The exact meaning of the word makes little difference to the meaning of the metaphor itself.

[9:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “They speak deceit.”

[9:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “With his mouth a person speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets an ambush for him.”

[3:6]  ²⁷ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ²⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ²⁹ 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).