Psalms 50:19

50:19 You do damage with words, ¹ 

and use your tongue to deceive. ² 

Psalms 34:13

34:13 Then make sure you don’t speak evil words ³ 

or use deceptive speech! ⁴ 

Psalms 36:3

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

he does not care about doing what is wise and right. ⁵ 

Psalms 52:4

52:4 You love to use all the words that destroy, ⁶ 

and the tongue that deceives.

Psalms 55:11

55:11 Disaster is within it;

violence ⁷  and deceit do not depart from its public square.

Psalms 5:6

5:6 You destroy ⁸  liars; ⁹ 

the Lord despises ¹⁰  violent and deceitful people. ¹¹ 

Psalms 10:7

10:7 His mouth is full of curses and deceptive, harmful words; ¹² 

his tongue injures and destroys. ¹³ 

Psalms 17:1

Psalm 17 ¹⁴ 

A prayer of David.

17:1 Lord, consider my just cause! ¹⁵ 

Pay attention to my cry for help!

Listen to the prayer

I sincerely offer! ¹⁶ 

Psalms 24:4

24:4 The one whose deeds are blameless

and whose motives are pure, ¹⁷ 

who does not lie, ¹⁸ 

or make promises with no intention of keeping them. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 35:20

35:20 For they do not try to make peace with others, ²⁰ 

but plan ways to deceive those who are unsuspecting. ²¹ 

Psalms 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ²² 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Psalms 43:1

Psalm 43 ²³ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ²⁴  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ²⁵  from deceitful and evil men! ²⁶ 

Psalms 109:2

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

they lie to me. ²⁷ 

Psalms 55:23

55:23 But you, O God, will bring them ²⁸  down to the deep Pit. ²⁹ 

Violent and deceitful people ³⁰  will not live even half a normal lifespan. ³¹ 

But as for me, I trust in you.

[50:19]  ¹ tn Heb “your mouth you send with evil.”

[50:19]  ² tn Heb “and your tongue binds together [i.e., “frames”] deceit.”

[34:13]  ³ tn Heb “guard your tongue from evil.”

[34:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “and your lips from speaking deception.”

[36:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “he ceases to exhibit wisdom to do good.” The Hiphil forms are exhibitive, indicating the outward expression of an inner attitude.

[52:4]  ⁷ 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.

[55:11]  ⁹ tn Or “injury, harm.”

[5:6]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn The imperfect verbal form highlights the Lord’s characteristic attitude toward such individuals.

[5:6]  ¹⁴ 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.

[10:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “[with] a curse his mouth is full, and lies and injury.”

[10:7]  ¹⁴ 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.

[17:1]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “hear, Lord, what is just.”

[17:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”

[24:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the innocent of hands and the pure of heart.” The “hands” allude to one’s actions, the “heart” to one’s thought life and motives.

[24:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “who does not lift up for emptiness my life.” The first person pronoun on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy, “my life”) makes little sense here; many medieval Hebrew mss support the ancient versions in reading a third person pronoun “his.” The idiom “lift the life” here means to “long for” or “desire strongly.” In this context (note the reference to an oath in the following line) “emptiness” probably refers to speech (see Ps 12:2).

[24:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and does not swear an oath deceitfully.”

[35:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for they do not speak peace.”

[35:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “but against the quiet ones of the land words of deceit they plan.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 20 highlight their characteristic behavior.

[38:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[43:1]  ²³ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

[43:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “argue my case.”

[43:1]  ²⁵ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

[43:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

[109:2]  ²⁵ 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.”

[55:23]  ²⁷ tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).

[55:23]  ²⁸ tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).

[55:23]  ²⁹ tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”

[55:23]  ³⁰ tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”