Psalms 55:21

55:21 His words are as smooth as butter, ¹ 

but he harbors animosity in his heart. ² 

His words seem softer than oil,

but they are really like sharp swords. ³ 

Psalms 59:7

59:7 Look, they hurl insults at me

and openly threaten to kill me, ⁴ 

for they say, ⁵ 

“Who hears?”

Psalms 64:3

64:3 They ⁶  sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ⁷ 

Proverbs 12:18

12:18 Speaking recklessly ⁸  is like the thrusts of a sword,

but the words ⁹  of the wise bring ¹⁰  healing. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 18:21

18:21 Death and life are in the power ¹²  of the tongue, ¹³ 

and those who love its use ¹⁴  will eat its fruit.

James 3:6-8

3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ¹⁵  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ¹⁶  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ¹⁷ 

3:7 For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature ¹⁸  is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. ¹⁹  3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless ²⁰  evil, full of deadly poison.

[55:21]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and war [is in] his heart.”

[55:21]  ³ tn Heb “his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.”

[59:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “look, they gush forth with their mouth, swords [are] in their lips.”

[59:7]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[12:18]  ⁸ tn The term בּוֹטֶה (boteh) means “to speak rashly [or, thoughtlessly]” (e.g., Lev 5:4; Num 30:7).

[12:18]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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.

[18:21]  ¹² tn Heb “in the hand of.”

[18:21]  ¹³ sn What people say can lead to life or death. The Midrash on Psalms shows one way the tongue [what is said] can cause death: “The evil tongue slays three, the slanderer, the slandered, and the listener” (Midrash Tehillim 52:2). See J. G. Williams, “The Power of Form: A Study of Biblical Proverbs,” Semeia 17 (1980): 35-38.

[18:21]  ¹⁴ tn The referent of “it” must be the tongue, i.e., what the tongue says (= “its use”). So those who enjoy talking, indulging in it, must “eat” its fruit, whether good or bad. The expression “eating the fruit” is an implied comparison; it means accept the consequences of loving to talk (cf. TEV).

[3:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ¹⁶ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ¹⁷ 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).

[3:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk (plurals), “every kind of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures.”

[3:7]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the human species.”

[3:8]  ²⁰ tc Most mss (C Ψ 1739^c Ï as well as a few versions and fathers) read “uncontrollable” (ἀκατασχετόν, akatasceton), while the most important witnesses (א A B K P 1739* latt) have “restless” (ἀκατάστατον, akatastaton). Externally, the latter reading should be preferred. Internally, however, things get a bit more complex. The notion of being uncontrollable is well suited to the context, especially as a counterbalance to v. 8a, though for this very reason scribes may have been tempted to replace ἀκατάστατον with ἀκατασχετόν. However, in a semantically parallel early Christian text, ἀκατάστατος (akatastato") was considered strong enough of a term to denounce slander as “a restless demon” (Herm. 27:3). On the other hand, ἀκατάστατον may have been substituted for ἀκατασχετόν by way of assimilation to 1:8 (especially since both words were relatively rare, scribes may have replaced the less familiar with one that was already used in this letter). On internal evidence, it is difficult to decide, though ἀκατασχετόν is slightly preferred. However, in light of the strong support for ἀκατάστατον, and the less-than-decisive internal evidence, ἀκατάστατον is preferred instead.