Psalms 10:7

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

his tongue injures and destroys. ² 

Psalms 36:3-4

36:3 The words he speaks are sinful and deceitful;

he does not care about doing what is wise and right. ³ 

36:4 He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed;

he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; ⁴ 

he does not reject what is evil. ⁵ 

Psalms 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ⁶ 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Psalms 41:6

41:6 When someone comes to visit, ⁷  he pretends to be friendly; ⁸ 

he thinks of ways to defame me, ⁹ 

and when he leaves he slanders me. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 52:1-4

Psalm 52 ¹¹ 

For the music director; a well-written song ¹²  by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.” ¹³ 

52:1 Why do you boast about your evil plans, ¹⁴  O powerful man?

God’s loyal love protects me all day long! ¹⁵ 

52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; ¹⁶ 

it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. ¹⁷ 

52:3 You love evil more than good,

lies more than speaking the truth. ¹⁸  (Selah)

52:4 You love to use all the words that destroy, ¹⁹ 

and the tongue that deceives.

Psalms 59:12

59:12 They speak sinful words. ²⁰ 

So let them be trapped by their own pride

and by the curses and lies they speak!

Psalms 144:8

144:8 who speak lies,

and make false promises. ²¹ 

Psalms 144:11

144:11 Grab me and rescue me from the power of foreigners, ²² 

who speak lies,

and make false promises. ²³ 

Jeremiah 9:2-6

9:2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the desert

where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. ²⁴ 

Then I would desert my people

and walk away from them

because they are all unfaithful to God,

a congregation ²⁵  of people that has been disloyal to him. ²⁶ 

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

9:3 The Lord says, ²⁷ 

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

Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. ²⁸ 

They have become powerful in the land,

but they have not done so by honest means. ²⁹ 

Indeed, they do one evil thing after another ³⁰ 

and do not pay attention to me. ³¹ 

9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.

He must not even trust any of his relatives. ³² 

For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ³³ 

And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

9:5 One friend deceives another

and no one tells the truth.

These people have trained themselves ³⁴  to tell lies.

They do wrong and are unable to repent.

9:6 They do one act of violence after another,

and one deceitful thing after another. ³⁵ 

They refuse to pay attention to me,” ³⁶ 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:8

9:8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ³⁷ 

They are always telling lies. ³⁸ 

Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths.

But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ³⁹ 

[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.

[36:3]  ³ tn Heb “he ceases to exhibit wisdom to do good.” The Hiphil forms are exhibitive, indicating the outward expression of an inner attitude.

[36:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “he takes a stand in a way [that is] not good.” The word “way” here refers metaphorically to behavior or life style.

[36:4]  ⁵ tn The three imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 highlight the characteristic behavior of the typical evildoer.

[38:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[41:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “to see.”

[41:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “he speaks deceitfully.”

[41:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “his heart gathers sin to itself.”

[41:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he goes outside and speaks.”

[52:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 52. The psalmist confidently confronts his enemy and affirms that God will destroy evildoers and vindicate the godly.

[52:1]  ¹² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[52:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’”

[52:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Why do you boast in evil?”

[52:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the loyal love of God [is] all the day.” In this context, where the psalmist is threatened by his enemy, the point seems to be that the psalmist is protected by God’s loyal love at all times.

[52:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”

[52:2]  ¹⁷ 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.

[52:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “deceit more than speaking what is right.”

[52:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you love all the words of swallowing.” Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallowing” in the sense of “devouring” or “destructive” (see BDB 118 s.v. בָּלַע). HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע proposes a homonym here, meaning “confusion.” This would fit the immediate context nicely and provide a close parallel to the following line, which refers to deceptive words.

[59:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”

[144:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “who [with] their mouth speak falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” The reference to the “right hand” is probably a metonymy for an oath. When making an oath, one would raise the hand as a solemn gesture. See Exod 6:8; Num 14:30; Deut 32:40. The figure thus represents the making of false oaths (false promises).

[144:11]  ²² tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”

[144:11]  ²³ tn Heb “who [with] their mouth speak falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” See v. 8 where the same expression occurs.

[9:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I wish I had in the desert a lodging place [inn, or place to spend the night] for travelers.”

[9:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “bunch,” but this loses the irony; the word is used for the solemn assemblies at the religious feasts.

[9:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they are all adulterers, a congregation of unfaithful people.” However, spiritual adultery is, of course, meant, not literal adultery. So the literal translation would be misleading.

[9:3]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn Heb “They have readied [or strung] their tongue as their bow for lies.”

[9:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “but not through honesty.”

[9:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “they go from evil to evil.”

[9:3]  ³¹ 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).

[9:4]  ³² tn Heb “Be on your guard…Do not trust.” The verbs are second masculine plural of direct address and there seems no way to translate literally and not give the mistaken impression that Jeremiah is being addressed. This is another example of the tendency in Hebrew style to turn from description to direct address (a figure of speech called apostrophe).

[9:4]  ³³ tn Heb “cheating, each of them will cheat.”

[9:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “their tongues.” However, this is probably not a natural idiom in contemporary English and the tongue may stand as a part for the whole anyway.

[9:6]  ³⁵ tc An alternate reading for vv. 5d-6b is: “They wear themselves out doing wrong. Jeremiah, you live in the midst of deceitful people. They deceitfully refuse to take any thought of/acknowledge me.” The translation which has been adopted is based on a redivision of the lines, a redivision of some of the words, and a revocalization of some of the consonants. The MT reads literally “doing wrong they weary themselves. Your sitting in the midst of deceit; in deceit they refuse to know me” (הַעֲוֵה נִלְאוּ׃ שִׁבְתְּךָ בְּתוֹךְ מִרְמָה בְּמִרְמָה מֵאֲנוּ דַעַת־אוֹתִי). The Greek version reads literally “they do wrong and they do not cease to turn themselves around. Usury upon usury and deceit upon deceit. They do not want to know me.” This suggests that one should read the Hebrew text as שֻׁב׃ תֹּךְ בְּתוֹךְ מִרְ־מָה בְּמִרְ־מָה מֵאֲנוּ דַעַת אוֹתִי הַעֲוֵה נִלְאוּ, which translated literally yields “doing evil [= “they do evil” using the Hiphil infinitive absolute as a finite verb (cf. GKC 346 §113.ff)] they are not able [cf. KBL 468 s.v. לָאָה Niph.3 and see Exod 7:18 for parallel use] to repent. Oppression on oppression [cf. BDB 1067 s.v. תֹּךְ, II תּוֹךְ]; deceit on deceit. They refuse to know me.” This reading has ancient support and avoids the introduction of an unexpected second masculine suffix into the context. It has been adopted here along with a number of modern commentaries (cf., e.g., W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:201) and English versions as the more likely reading.

[9:6]  ³⁶ tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” See the note on the phrase “do not take any thought of me” in 9:3.

[9:8]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn Heb “They speak deceit.”

[9:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “With his mouth a person speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets an ambush for him.”