Psalms 55:21

55:21 His words are as smooth as butter, ¹ 

but he harbors animosity in his heart. ² 

His words seem softer than oil,

but they are really like sharp swords. ³ 

Psalms 57:4

57:4 I am surrounded by lions;

I lie down ⁴  among those who want to devour me; ⁵ 

men whose teeth are spears and arrows,

whose tongues are a sharp sword. ⁶ 

Psalms 64:3-5

64:3 They ⁷  sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ⁸ 

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent ⁹  in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ¹⁰ 

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ¹¹ 

They plan how to hide ¹²  snares,

and boast, ¹³  “Who will see them?” ¹⁴ 

Psalms 109:2-3

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

they lie to me. ¹⁵ 

109:3 They surround me and say hateful things; ¹⁶ 

they attack me for no reason.

Proverbs 12:18

12:18 Speaking recklessly ¹⁷  is like the thrusts of a sword,

but the words ¹⁸  of the wise bring ¹⁹  healing. ²⁰ 

[55:21]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and war [is in] his heart.”

[55:21]  ³ tn Heb “his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.”

[57:4]  ⁴ tn The cohortative form אֶשְׁכְּבָה (’eshkÿvah, “I lie down”) is problematic, for it does not seem to carry one of the normal functions of the cohortative (resolve or request). One possibility is that the form here is a “pseudo-cohortative” used here in a gnomic sense (IBHS 576-77 §34.5.3b).

[57:4]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb לָהַט (lahat) is here understood as a hapax legomenon meaning “devour” (see HALOT 521 s.v. II להט), a homonym of the more common verb meaning “to burn.” A more traditional interpretation takes the verb from this latter root and translates, “those who are aflame” (see BDB 529 s.v.; cf. NASB “those who breathe forth fire”).

[57:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “my life, in the midst of lions, I lie down, devouring ones, sons of mankind, their teeth a spear and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.” The syntax of the verse is difficult. Another option is to take “my life” with the preceding verse. For this to make sense, one must add a verb, perhaps “and may he deliver” (cf. the LXX), before the phrase. One might then translate, “May God send his loyal love and faithfulness and deliver my life.” If one does take “my life” with v. 4, then the parallelism of v. 5 is altered and one might translate: “in the midst of lions I lie down, [among] men who want to devour me, whose teeth….”

[64:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[64:4]  ⁹ tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[64:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5]  ¹² tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5]  ¹⁴ tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

[109:2]  ¹⁵ 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.”

[109:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and [with] words of hatred they surround me.”

[12:18]  ¹⁷ tn The term בּוֹטֶה (boteh) means “to speak rashly [or, thoughtlessly]” (e.g., Lev 5:4; Num 30:7).

[12:18]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.