Psalms 5:9

5:9 For ¹  they do not speak the truth; ² 

their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ³ 

their throats like an open grave, ⁴ 

their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ⁵ 

Isaiah 5:28

5:28 Their arrows are sharpened,

and all their bows are prepared. ⁶ 

The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, ⁷ 

and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm. ⁸ 

Romans 3:13

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ⁹ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ¹⁰ 

[5:9]  ¹ tn Or “certainly.”

[5:9]  ² tn Heb “for there is not in his mouth truthfulness.” The singular pronoun (“his”) probably refers back to the “man of bloodshed and deceit” mentioned in v. 6. The singular is collective or representative, as the plural in the next line indicates, and so has been translated “they.”

[5:9]  ³ tn Heb “their inward part[s] [is] destruction.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse.

[5:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “their throat is an open grave.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse. The metaphor is suggested by the physical resemblance of the human throat to a deeply dug grave; both are dark chasms.

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “they make smooth their tongue.” Flattering, deceitful words are in view. See Ps 12:2. The psalmist’s deceitful enemies are compared to the realm of death/Sheol in v. 9b. Sheol was envisioned as a dark region within the earth, the entrance to which was the grave with its steep slopes (cf. Ps 88:4-6). The enemies’ victims are pictured here as slipping down a steep slope (the enemies’ tongues) and falling into an open grave (their throat) that terminates in destruction in the inner recesses of Sheol (their stomach). The enemies’ קרב (“inward part”) refers here to their thoughts and motives, which are destructive in their intent. The throat is where these destructive thoughts are transformed into words, and their tongue is what they use to speak the deceitful words that lead their innocent victims to their demise.

[5:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “bent” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “are strung.”

[5:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “regarded like flint.”

[5:28]  ⁸ sn They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.

[3:13]  ⁹ tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”

[3:13]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.