3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper's poison is under their lips. Selah.
Their poison is like the poison of a snake; Like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
Your tongue plots destruction, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, Lying rather than speaking the truth. Selah.
Behold, they spew with their mouth. Swords are in their lips, "For," they say, "who hears us?"
There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, But the tongue of the wise heals.
In the end, it bites like a snake, And poisons like a viper.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness. None sues in righteousness, and none pleads in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch adders' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
They bend their tongue, [as it were] their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh.
You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
"Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit." "The poison of vipers is under their lips;" "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."
And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.{Gehenna is a name that describes a burning Hell with rotting bodies and unclean things in it} For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and thing in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind. But nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 140
Commentary on Psalms 140 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 140
Ps 140:1-13. The style of this Psalm resembles those of David in the former part of the book, presenting the usual complaint, prayer, and confident hope of relief.
1. evil man—Which of David's enemies is meant is not important.
2-5. This character of the wicked, and the devices planned against the pious, correspond to Ps 10:7; 31:13; 58:4, &c.
3. sharpened … like a serpent—not like a serpent does, but they are thus like a serpent in cunning and venom.
5. snare [and] net—for threatening dangers (compare Ps 38:12; 57:6).
6. (Compare Ps 5:1-12; 16:2).
7. day of battle—literally, "of armor," that is, when using it.
8. (Compare Ps 37:12; 66:7).
lest they exalt themselves—or, they will be exalted if permitted to prosper.
9. Contrasts his head covered by God (Ps 140:7) with theirs, or (as "head" may be used for "persons") with them, covered with the results of their wicked deeds (Ps 7:16).
10. (Compare Ps 11:6; 120:4).
cast into the fire; into deep pits—figures for utter destruction.
11. an evil speaker—or, "slanderer" will not be tolerated (Ps 101:7). The last clause may be translated: "an evil (man) He (God) shall hunt," &c.
12. (Compare Ps 9:4).
13. After all changes, the righteous shall have cause for praise. Such
shall dwell—shall sit securely, under God's protection (Ps 21:6; 41:12).