9 For there is no certainty in their mouth; their inward part is perversion, their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; asps' poison [is] under their lips:
They only consult to thrust [him] down from his excellency; they delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but in their inward part they curse. Selah.
For her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
Thy tongue deviseth mischievous things, like a sharp razor, practising deceit.
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked go astray from the womb; they err as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood, and not for fidelity are they valiant in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah. Take ye heed every one of his friend, and confide not in any brother; for every brother only supplanteth, and every friend goeth about with slander. And they act deceitfully every one with his neighbour, and speak not the truth: they teach their tongue to speak falsehood, they weary themselves with perverse dealing. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith Jehovah.
Hallelujah! I will celebrate Jehovah with [my] whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the assembly. Great are the works of Jehovah; sought out of all that delight in them. His work is majesty and splendour, and his righteousness abideth for ever.
They devise iniquities: We have it ready, the plan is diligently sought out. And each one's inward [thought] and heart is deep.
Men of low degree are only vanity; men of high degree, a lie: laid in the balance, they go up together [lighter] than vanity.
{To the chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the servant of Jehovah; of David.} The transgression of the wicked uttereth within my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, [even] when his iniquity is found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, to do good. He deviseth wickedness up on his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good: he abhorreth not evil.
They speak falsehood every one with his neighbour: [with] flattering lip, with a double heart, do they speak. Jehovah will cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaketh proud things,
Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person; neither will I give flattery to man. For I know not how to flatter; my Maker would soon take me away.
For we have not at any time been [among you] with flattering discourse, even as ye know, nor with a pretext for covetousness, God [is] witness;
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil dispositions; whisperers, back-biters, hateful to God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, void of understanding, faithless, without natural affection, unmerciful;
For from within, out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, deceit, licentiousness, a wicked eye, injurious language, haughtiness, folly;
The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable; who can know it?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 5
Commentary on Psalms 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 5
The psalm is a prayer, a solemn address to God, at a time when the psalmist was brought into distress by the malice of his enemies. Many such times passed over David, nay, there was scarcely any time of his life to which this psalm may not be accommodated, for in this he was a type of Christ, that he was continually beset with enemies, and his powerful and prevalent appeals to God, when he was so beset, pointed at Christ's dependence on his Father and triumphs over the powers of darkness in the midst of his sufferings. In this psalm,
And this is all of great use to direct us in prayer.
To the chief musician upon Nehiloth. A psalm of David.
Psa 5:1-6
The title of this psalm has nothing in it peculiar but that it is said to be upon Nehiloth, a word nowhere else used. It is conjectured (and it is but a conjecture) that is signifies wind-instruments, with which this psalm was sung, as Neginoth was supposed to signify the stringed-instruments. In these verses David had an eye to God,
In singing these verses, and praying them over, we must engage and stir up ourselves to the duty of prayer, and encourage ourselves in it, because we shall not seek the Lord in vain; and must express our detestation of sin, and our awful expectation of that day of Christ's appearing which will be the day of the perdition of ungodly men.
Psa 5:7-12
In these verses David gives three characters-of himself, of his enemies, and of all the people of God, and subjoins a prayer to each of them.
In singing these verses, and praying them over, we must by faith put ourselves under God's guidance and care, and then please ourselves with his mercy and grace and with the prospect of God's triumphs at last over all his enemies and his people's triumphs in him and in his salvation.