Psalms 10:7

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

his tongue injures and destroys. ² 

Psalms 45:16

45:16 Your ³  sons will carry ⁴  on the dynasty of your ancestors; ⁵ 

you will make them princes throughout the land.

Psalms 140:3

140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; ⁶ 

a viper’s ⁷  venom is behind ⁸  their lips. (Selah)

[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.

[45:16]  ³ tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.

[45:16]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive and the statement interpreted as a prayer, “May your sons carry on the dynasty of your ancestors!” The next line could then be taken as a relative clause, “[your sons] whom you will make princes throughout the land.”

[45:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”

[140:3]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.

[140:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “under.”