Discovery BoxPsalms 12:2-4
Context12:2 People lie to one another; 1
they flatter and deceive. 2
12:3 May the Lord cut off 3 all flattering lips,
and the tongue that boasts! 4
12:4 They say, 5 “We speak persuasively; 6
we know how to flatter and boast. 7
Who is our master?” 8
Psalms 17:1
ContextA prayer of David.
17:1 Lord, consider my just cause! 10
Pay attention to my cry for help!
Listen to the prayer
I sincerely offer! 11
Psalms 21:2
Context21:2 You grant 12 him his heart’s desire;
you do not refuse his request. 13 (Selah)
Psalms 22:7
Context22:7 All who see me taunt 14 me;
they mock me 15 and shake their heads. 16
Psalms 31:18
Context31:18 May lying lips be silenced –
lips 17 that speak defiantly against the innocent 18
with arrogance and contempt!
Psalms 40:9
Context40:9 I have told the great assembly 19 about your justice. 20
Look! I spare no words! 21
O Lord, you know this is true.
Psalms 45:2
Context45:2 You are the most handsome of all men! 22
You speak in an impressive and fitting manner! 23
For this reason 24 God grants you continual blessings. 25
Psalms 59:7
Context59:7 Look, they hurl insults at me
and openly threaten to kill me, 26
for they say, 27
“Who hears?”
Psalms 59:12
Context59:12 They speak sinful words. 28
So let them be trapped by their own pride
and by the curses and lies they speak!
Psalms 63:5
Context63:5 As if with choice meat 29 you satisfy my soul. 30
My mouth joyfully praises you, 31
Psalms 81:5
Context81:5 He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,
when he attacked the land of Egypt. 32
I heard a voice I did not recognize. 33
Psalms 140:3
Context
[12:2] 1 tn Heb “falsehood they speak, a man with his neighbor.” The imperfect verb forms in v. 2 describe what is typical in the psalmist’s experience.
[12:2] 2 tn Heb “[with] a lip of smoothness, with a heart and a heart they speak.” Speaking a “smooth” word refers to deceptive flattery (cf. Ps 5:9; 55:21; Prov 2:16; 5:3; 7:5, 21; 26:28; 28:23; Isa 30:10). “Heart” here refers to their mind, from which their motives and intentions originate. The repetition of the noun indicates diversity (see GKC 396 §123.f, IBHS 116 §7.2.3c, and Deut 25:13, where the phrase “weight and a weight” refers to two different measuring weights). These people have two different types of “hearts.” Their flattering words seem to express kind motives and intentions, but this outward display does not really reflect their true motives. Their real “heart” is filled with evil thoughts and destructive intentions. The “heart” that is seemingly displayed through their words is far different from the real “heart” they keep disguised. (For the idea see Ps 28:3.) In 1 Chr 12:33 the phrase “without a heart and a heart” means “undivided loyalty.”
[12:3] 3 tn The verb form is a jussive, indicating that the statement is imprecatory (“May the
[12:3] 4 tn Heb “a tongue speaking great [things].”
[12:4] 5 tn Heb “which say.” The plural verb after the relative pronoun indicates a plural antecedent for the pronoun, probably “lips” in v. 3.
[12:4] 6 tn Heb “to our tongue we make strong.” The Hiphil of גָבַר (gavar) occurs only here and in Dan 9:27, where it refers to making strong, or confirming, a covenant. Here in Ps 12 the evildoers “make their tongue strong” in the sense that they use their tongue to produce flattering and arrogant words to accomplish their purposes. The preposition -לְ (l) prefixed to “our tongue” may be dittographic.
[12:4] 7 tn Heb “our lips [are] with us.” This odd expression probably means, “our lips are in our power,” in the sense that they say what they want, whether it be flattery or boasting. For other cases where אֵת (’et, “with”) has the sense “in the power of,” see Ps 38:10 and other texts listed by BDB 86 s.v. 3.a.
[12:4] 8 sn The rhetorical question expresses the arrogant attitude of these people. As far as they are concerned, they are answerable to no one for how they speak.
[17:1] 7 sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.
[17:1] 8 tn Heb “hear,
[17:1] 9 tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”
[21:2] 9 tn The translation assumes the perfect verbal forms in v. 2 are generalizing, stating factually what God typically does for the king. Another option is to take them as present perfects, “you have granted…you have not refused.” See v. 4, which mentions a specific request for a long reign.
[21:2] 10 tn Heb “and the request of his lips you do not refuse.”
[22:7] 11 tn Or “scoff at, deride, mock.”
[22:7] 12 tn Heb “they separate with a lip.” Apparently this refers to their verbal taunting.
[22:7] 13 sn Shake their heads. Apparently this refers to a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 109:25; Lam 2:15.
[31:18] 13 tn Heb “the [ones which].”
[40:9] 15 sn The great assembly is also mentioned in Pss 22:25 and 35:18.
[40:9] 16 tn Heb “I proclaim justice in the great assembly.” Though “justice” appears without a pronoun here, the
[40:9] 17 tn Heb “Look! My lips I do not restrain.”
[45:2] 17 tn Heb “you are handsome from the sons of man.” The preposition “from” is used in a comparative (“more than”) sense. The peculiar verb form יָפְיָפִיתָ (yafyafita) is probably the result of dittography of yod-pe (יפ) and should be emended to יָפִיתָ (yafita). See GKC 152 §55.e.
[45:2] 18 tn Heb “favor is poured out on your lips.” “Lips” probably stands by metonymy for the king’s speech. Some interpret the Hebrew term חֵן (khen) as referring here to “gracious (i.e., kind and polite) speech”, but the word probably refers more generally to “attractive” speech that is impressively articulated and fitting for the occasion. For other instances of the term being used of speech, see Prov 22:11 and Eccl 10:12.
[45:2] 19 tn Or “this demonstrates.” The construction עַל־כֵּן (’al-ken, “therefore”) usually indicates what logically follows from a preceding statement. However, here it may infer the cause from the effect, indicating the underlying basis or reason for what precedes (see BDB 487 s.v. I כֵּן 3.f; C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 1:386).
[45:2] 20 tn Or “blesses you forever.” Here “bless” means to “endue with the power and skill to rule effectively,” as the following verses indicate.
[59:7] 19 tn Heb “look, they gush forth with their mouth, swords [are] in their lips.”
[59:7] 20 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.
[59:12] 21 tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”
[63:5] 23 tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”
[63:5] 25 tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”
[81:5] 25 tn Heb “in his going out against the land of Egypt.” This apparently refers to the general time period of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The LXX reads, “from Egypt,” in which case “Joseph” (see the preceding line) would be the subject of the verb, “when he [Joseph = Israel] left Egypt.”
[81:5] 26 tn Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip” probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalmist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is recorded in the following verses.
[140:3] 27 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.”
