Psalms 52:2

52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; ¹ 

it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. ² 

Psalms 55:21

55:21 His words are as smooth as butter, ³ 

but he harbors animosity in his heart. ⁴ 

His words seem softer than oil,

but they are really like sharp swords. ⁵ 

Psalms 64:3

64:3 They ⁶  sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ⁷ 

Proverbs 12:18

12:18 Speaking recklessly ⁸  is like the thrusts of a sword,

but the words ⁹  of the wise bring ¹⁰  healing. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 25:18

25:18 Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow, ¹² 

so is the one who testifies against ¹³  his neighbor as a false witness. ¹⁴ 

Revelation 19:15

19:15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. ¹⁵  He ¹⁶  will rule ¹⁷  them with an iron rod, ¹⁸  and he stomps the winepress ¹⁹  of the furious ²⁰  wrath of God, the All-Powerful. ²¹ 

[52:2]  ¹ tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”

[52:2]  ² 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.

[55:21]  ³ tn Heb “the butter-like [words] of his mouth are smooth.” The noun מַחְמָאֹת (makhma’ot, “butter-like [words]”) occurs only here. Many prefer to emend the form to מֵחֶמְאָה (mekhem’ah, from [i.e., “than”] butter”), cf. NEB, NRSV “smoother than butter.” However, in this case “his mouth” does not agree in number with the plural verb חָלְקוּ (kholqu, “they are smooth”). Therefore some further propose an emendation of פִּיו (piv, “his mouth”) to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”). In any case, the point seems to that the psalmist’s former friend spoke kindly to him and gave the outward indications of friendship.

[55:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “and war [is in] his heart.”

[55:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.”

[64:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[12:18]  ⁸ tn The term בּוֹטֶה (boteh) means “to speak rashly [or, thoughtlessly]” (e.g., Lev 5:4; Num 30:7).

[12:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “the tongue” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The term לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) functions as a metonymy of cause for what is said.

[12:18]  ¹⁰ tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[12:18]  ¹¹ sn Healing is a metonymy of effect. Healing words are the opposite of the cutting, irresponsible words. What the wise say is faithful and true, gentle and kind, uplifting and encouraging; so their words bring healing.

[25:18]  ¹² sn The first line identifies the emblem of the proverb: False witnesses are here compared to deadly weapons because they can cause the death of innocent people (e.g., Exod 20:16; Deut 5:20; and Prov 14:5).

[25:18]  ¹³ tn The verb עָנָה (’anah) followed by the preposition בְּ (bet) with its object means “to testify against” (answer against someone). With the preposition לְ (lamed) it would mean “to testify for” someone. Here the false witness is an adversary, hence the comparison with deadly weapons.

[25:18]  ¹⁴ tn While עֵד (’ed) could be interpreted as “evidence” (a meaning that came from a metonymy – what the witness gives in court), its normal meaning is “witness.” Here it would function as an adverbial accusative, specifying how he would answer in court.

[19:15]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[19:15]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:15]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “will shepherd.”

[19:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”

[19:15]  ¹⁹ sn He stomps the winepress. See Isa 63:3, where Messiah does this alone (usually several individuals would join in the process), and Rev 14:20.

[19:15]  ²⁰ tn The genitive θυμοῦ (qumou) has been translated as an attributed genitive. Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumos) and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9).

[19:15]  ²¹ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”