Psalms 10:7

10:7 His mouth is full of curses and deceptive, harmful words; ¹ 

his tongue injures and destroys. ² 

Psalms 18:26

18:26 You prove to be reliable ³  to one who is blameless,

but you prove to be deceptive ⁴  to one who is perverse. ⁵ 

Psalms 49:5

49:5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble, ⁶ 

when the sinful deeds of deceptive men threaten to overwhelm me? ⁷ 

Psalms 109:2

109:2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me;

they lie to me. ⁸ 

Psalms 119:118

119:118 You despise ⁹  all who stray from your statutes,

for they are deceptive and unreliable. ¹⁰ 

[10:7]  ¹ tn Heb “[with] a curse his mouth is full, and lies and injury.”

[10:7]  ² tn Heb “under his tongue are destruction and wickedness.” The words translated “destruction and wickedness” are also paired in Ps 90:10. They also appear in proximity in Pss 7:14 and 55:10.

[18:26]  ³ tn Or “blameless.”

[18:26]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verb פָתַל (patal) is used in only three other texts. In Gen 30:8 it means literally “to wrestle,” or “to twist.” In Job 5:13 it refers to devious individuals, and in Prov 8:8 to deceptive words.

[18:26]  ⁵ tn The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted, crooked,” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse. It appears frequently in Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5), speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20), and life styles (2:15; 28:6). A righteous king opposes such people (Ps 101:4).

[49:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “days of trouble.” The phrase also occurs in Ps 94:13. The question is rhetorical; there is no reason to be afraid when the rich oppressors threaten the weak (see v. 17). The following verses explain why this is so.

[49:5]  ⁶ tc The MT has, “the iniquity of my heels surrounds me.” The clause is best understood as temporal and as elaborating on the preceding phrase “times of trouble.” If the MT is retained, the genitive “of my heels” would probably indicate location (“the iniquity at my heels”); the sinful actions of the rich threaten to overtake the psalmist, as it were. It is better, however, to emend עֲקֵבַי (’aqivay, “my heels”) to either (1) עֲקֻבַּי (’aqubay, “my deceitful ones,” i.e., “those who deceive me” [from the adjective עָקֹב (’aqov), “deceitful,” see Jer 17:9]) or (2) עֹקְבַי (’oqÿvay, “those who deceive me” [a suffixed active participle from עָקַב, ’aqav, “betray, deceive”]). Origen’s transliteration of the Hebrew text favors the first of these options. Either of the emendations provides a much smoother transition to v. 6, because “those who trust in their wealth” would then be appositional to “those who deceive me.”

[109:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “for a mouth of evil and a mouth of deceit against me they open, they speak with me [with] a tongue of falsehood.”

[119:118]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb סָלָה (salah, “to disdain”) occurs only here and in Lam 1:15. Cognate usage in Aramaic and Akkadian, as well as Lam 1:15, suggest it may have a concrete nuance of “to throw away.”

[119:118]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for their deceit [is] falsehood.”