Psalms 5:6

5:6 You destroy ¹  liars; ² 

the Lord despises ³  violent and deceitful people. ⁴ 

Psalms 58:3

58:3 The wicked turn aside from birth; ⁵ 

liars go astray as soon as they are born. ⁶ 

Psalms 63:11

63:11 But the king ⁷  will rejoice in God;

everyone who takes oaths in his name ⁸  will boast,

for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 9:3

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

9:3 The Lord says, ¹⁰ 

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

Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. ¹¹ 

They have become powerful in the land,

but they have not done so by honest means. ¹² 

Indeed, they do one evil thing after another ¹³ 

and do not pay attention to me. ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 4:25

4:25 Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, ¹⁵  for we are members of one another.

[5:6]  ¹ tn The imperfect verbal form indicates God’s typical response to such individuals. Another option is to translate the verb as future (“You will destroy”); the psalmist may be envisioning a time of judgment when God will remove the wicked from the scene.

[5:6]  ² tn Heb “those who speak a lie.” In the OT a “lie” does not refer in a general philosophical sense to any statement that fails to correspond to reality. Instead it refers more specifically to a slanderous and/or deceitful statement that promotes one’s own selfish, sinful interests and/or exploits or harms those who are innocent. Note the emphasis on violence and deceit in the following line.

[5:6]  ³ tn The imperfect verbal form highlights the Lord’s characteristic attitude toward such individuals.

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “a man of bloodshed and deceit.” The singular אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) is used here in a collective or representative sense; thus the translation “people” is appropriate here. Note the plural forms in vv. 5-6a.

[58:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[58:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “speakers of a lie go astray from the womb.”

[63:11]  ⁷ sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.

[63:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”

[63:11]  ⁹ tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.

[9:3]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “They have readied [or strung] their tongue as their bow for lies.”

[9:3]  ¹² tn Heb “but not through honesty.”

[9:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “they go from evil to evil.”

[9:3]  ¹⁴ 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).

[4:25]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Zech 8:16.