TRV
Translation
King James Version
They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
Complete Jewish Bible
They have made their tongues as sharp as a snake's; viper's venom is under their lips. (Selah)
Berean Standard Bible
They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
American Standard Version
They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent; Adders’ poison is under their lips. [Selah
World English Bible Messianic
They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah.
Geneva Bible (1599)
They haue sharpened their tongues like a serpent: adders poyson is vnder their lips. Selah.
Young's Literal Translation
They sharpened their tongue as a serpent, Poison of an adder is under their lips. Selah.
In the KJVVerse 16,267 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on Psalms 140 verses 1–7
1 ¶ To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;
2 Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.
3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
5 The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.
6 I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD.
7 O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
In this, as in other things, David was a type of Christ, that he suffered before he reigned, was humbled before he was exalted, and that as there were many who loved and valued him, and sought to do him honour, so there were many who hated and envied him, and sought to do him mischief, as appears by these verses, where,
I. He gives a character of his enemies, and paints them out in their own colours, as dangerous men, whom he had reason to be afraid of, but wicked men, whom he had no reason to think the righteous God would countenance. There was one that seems to have been the ring-leader of them, whom he calls the evil man and the man of violences (Psa 140:1, Psa 140:4), probably he means Saul. The Chaldee paraphrast (Psa 140:9) names both Doeg and Ahithophel; but between them there was a great distance of time. Violent men are evil men. But there were many besides this one who were confederate against David, who are here represented as the genuine offspring and seed of the serpent. For, 1. They are very subtle, crafty to do mischief; they have imagined it (Psa 140:2), have laid the scheme with all the art and cunning imaginable. They have purposed and plotted to overthrow the goings of a good man (Psa 140:4), to draw him into sin and trouble, to ruin him by blasting his reputation, crushing his interest, and taking away his life. For this purpose they have, like mighty hunters, hidden a snare, and spread a net, and set gins (Psa 140:5), that their designs against him, being kept undiscovered, might be the more likely to take effect, and he might fall into their hands ere he was aware. Great persecutors have often been great politicians, which has indeed made them the more formidable; but the Lord preserves the simple without all those arts. 2. They are very spiteful, as full of malice as Satan himself: They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent, that infuses his venom with his tongue; and there is so much malignity in all they say that one would think there was nothing under their lips but adders' poison, Psa 140:3. With their calumnies, and with their counsels, they aimed to destroy David, but secretly, as a man is stung with a serpent, or a snake in the grass. And they endeavoured likewise to infuse their malice into others, and to make them seven times more the children of hell than themselves. A malignant tongue makes men like the old serpent; and poison in the lips is a certain sign of poison in the heart. 3. They are confederate; they are many of them; but they are all gathered together against me for war, Psa 140:2. Those who can agree in nothing else can agree to persecute a good man. Herod and Pilate will unite in this, and in this they resemble Satan, who is not divided against himself, all the devils agreeing in Beelzebub. 4. They are proud (Psa 140:5), conceited of themselves and confident of their success; and herein also they resemble Satan, whose reigning ruining sin was pride. The pride of persecutors, though at present it be the terror, yet may be the encouragement, of the persecuted, for the more haughty they are the faster are they ripening for ruin. Pride goes before destruction.
II. He prays to God to keep him from them and from being swallowed up by them: "Lord, deliver me, preserve me, keep me (Psa 140:1, Psa 140:4); let them not prevail to take away my life, my reputation, my interest, my comfort, and to prevent my coming to the throne. Keep me from doing as they do, or as they would have me do, or as they promise themselves I shall do." Note, The more malice appears in our enemies against us the more earnest we should be in prayer to God to take us under his protection. In him believers may count upon a security, and may enjoy it and themselves with a holy serenity. Those are safe whom God preserves. If he be for us, who can be against us?
III. He triumphs in God, and thereby, in effect, he triumphs over his persecutors, Psa 140:6, Psa 140:7. When his enemies sharpened their tongues against him, did he sharpen his against them? No; adders' poison was under their lips, but grace was poured into his lips, witness what he here said unto the Lord, for to him he looked, to him he directed himself, when he saw himself in so much danger, through the malice of his enemies: and it is well for us that we have a God to go to. He comforted himself, 1. In his interest in God: "I said, Thou art my God; and, if my God, then my shield and mighty protector." In troublous dangerous times it is good to claim relation to God, and by faith to keep hold of him. 2. In his access to God. This comforted him, that he was not only taken into covenant with God, but into communion with him, that he had leave to speak to him, and might expect an answer of peace from him, and could say, with a humble confidence, Hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord! 3. In the assurance he had of help from God and happiness in him: "O God the Lord - Jehovah Adonai! as Jehovah thou art self-existent and self-sufficient, an infinitely perfect being; as Adonai thou art my stay and support, my ruler and governor, and therefore the strength of my salvation, my strong Saviour; nay, not only my Saviour, but my salvation itself, from whom, in whom, my salvation is; not only a strong Saviour, but the very strength of my salvation, on whom the stress of my hope is laid; all in all, to make me happy, and to preserve me to my happiness." 4. In the experience he had had formerly of God's care of him: Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. As he pleaded with Saul, that, for the service of his country, he many a time jeoparded his life in the high places of the field, so he pleads with God that, in those services, he had wonderfully protected him, and provided him a better helmet for the securing of his head than Goliath's was: "Lord, thou hast kept me in the day of battle with the Philistines, suffer me not to fall by the treacherous intrigues of false-hearted Israelites." God is as able to preserve his people from secret fraud as from open force; and the experience we have had of his power and care, in dangers of one kind, may encourage us to trust in him and depend upon him in dangers of another nature; for nothing can shorten the Lord's right hand.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–7. Public domain.
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Romans 3:9-26AD 56
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. [Psalms 140:3] Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
John ChrysostomAD 407
HOMILIES ON GENESIS 23:11
Do you see how holy Scripture knows how to call human only the person practicing virtue and does not think the others are human, calling them instead flesh at one time and earth at another? Hence at this place, too, in promising to list the genealogy of the good person it says, “Noah was a human being.” You see, he alone was a human being, whereas the others were not human beings; instead, while having the appearance of human beings they had forfeited the nobility of their kind by the evil of their intention, and instead of being human they reverted to the irrationality of wild animals. Sacred Scripture assigns the names of wild beasts to human beings, rational creatures that they should be, in the event of their lapsing into evil and falling prey to irrational passions. Listen, for example, to its words, “They turned into rutting horses.” See how it gives them the animal’s name on account of their unbridled lust. Elsewhere, on the other hand, it says, “Poison of serpents on their lips”; here it highlights their resemblance to the animal’s trickery and duplicity. Again, it calls them “dumb dogs.” And again, “Like a deaf adder that blocks its ears,” referring to their stopping their ears against instruction in virtue. You would find many other names imposed by sacred Scripture on people seduced by their indifference into bestial passions.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 140
"They have sharpened their tongues like serpents" [Psalm 140:3]. If still you seek to make out the man, behold a comparison. In the serpent above all beasts is there cunning and craft to hurt; for therefore does it creep. It has not even feet, so that its footsteps when it comes may be heard. In its progress it draws itself, as it were, gently along, yet not straightly. Thus then do they creep and crawl to hurt, having poison hidden even under a gentle touch. And so it follows, "the poison of asps is under their lips." Behold, it is "under" their lips, that we may perceive one thing under their lips, another in their lips....
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 140:3 powerfully depicts the insidious and destructive nature of the psalmist's adversaries, portraying their verbal assaults as akin to the deadly venom of serpents. This verse underscores the profound and often hidden power of words, revealing how slander, deceit, and malicious accusations, when wielded with evil intent, can inflict deep spiritual and emotional harm, as lethal and insidious as a serpent's hidden bite.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Psalm 140 is a heartfelt lament of David, a fervent plea to God for urgent deliverance from violent and deceitful enemies. The psalm commences with David's desperate cry for rescue from "evil men" and "violent men" who plot mischief and stir up conflict continually (Psalms 140:1-2). Verse 3, therefore, serves as a crucial elaboration on the modus operandi of these adversaries, revealing that their primary weapon is not merely physical aggression but venomous, calculated speech. This vivid description sets the stage for David's subsequent appeals for divine intervention against their traps and snares (Psalms 140:5), demonstrating that their verbal assaults are an integral and particularly insidious component of their overall strategy of destruction and oppression. The "Selah" at the end of the verse invites a pause, emphasizing the profound gravity of the preceding imagery before David continues his prayer.
Historical & Cultural Context: David's life was perpetually marked by relentless persecution, whether from the jealous King Saul, his rebellious son Absalom, or various foreign adversaries. In the ancient Near East, words were often imbued with tangible power, believed to be capable of blessing or cursing, creating or destroying. A verbal curse was far more than a mere insult; it was believed to carry a potent, almost mystical, force that could impact reality. The pervasive imagery of serpents and their poison would have resonated deeply within this cultural framework, as snakes were widely feared for their sudden, often fatal, attacks and their ancient association with deception, famously seen in the Garden of Eden narrative. The "adder" (ʻakshûwb) specifically refers to a highly venomous snake known for its lurking, coiling behavior and sudden strike, reinforcing the idea of hidden danger, insidious intent, and the unexpected nature of the verbal assault.
Key Themes: This verse profoundly contributes to several overarching themes within the Psalms and the broader biblical narrative. Firstly, it highlights The Destructive Power of Malicious Speech, emphasizing that words are potent weapons, capable of inflicting deep harm, slander, and deceit, often more insidious and damaging than physical attacks. This theme is echoed throughout wisdom literature, as seen in Proverbs 18:21. Secondly, it underscores Hidden Malice and Deceit, as the imagery of "poison under their lips" suggests a concealed, insidious quality to their words, ready to strike unexpectedly and without warning. This theme of concealed evil is also found in passages like Psalms 55:21. Finally, for David, these verbal attacks are not merely personal grievances but are part of a larger Spiritual Warfare, where he appeals to God for protection from those whose very speech is imbued with a destructive, serpent-like intent, reflecting a constant battle against forces of evil that seek to undermine God's righteous ones, a theme powerfully articulated in Ephesians 6:12.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 140:3 is rich in Imagery, painting a vivid and disturbing picture of the enemies' destructive speech. The central device is a powerful Simile, directly comparing the "sharpening" of tongues to a serpent, explicitly stating the likeness using "like." This is further intensified by Metaphor, where the words themselves are implicitly equated with "adders' poison," suggesting that their speech is not just harmful but literally toxic and lethal in its effect. The phrase "under their lips" employs Synecdoche, where "lips" represent the entire act of speaking, while also subtly hinting at the Concealment and insidious nature of the venom, which is not immediately apparent. This potent use of Zoomorphism, attributing reptilian traits—specifically the cunning, stealth, and deadly strike of a snake—to human speech, effectively conveys the malevolent intent behind the words. Finally, "Selah" serves as a Liturgical Marker, prompting a reflective pause that underscores the profound and disturbing truth presented in the verse, inviting the reader to ponder its spiritual implications.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 140:3 offers a stark theological reflection on the pervasive nature of evil and the profound spiritual danger inherent in malicious speech. It reveals that wickedness is not confined to physical violence but manifests powerfully through the insidious power of words, which can be wielded with deliberate, serpent-like cunning to destroy reputations, sow discord, and inflict deep emotional and spiritual wounds. The psalmist's fervent cry highlights humanity's vulnerability to such verbal assaults and implicitly appeals to God as the ultimate arbiter of justice, who alone possesses the discernment to expose the hidden venom and the power to deliver from its devastating effects. This verse serves as a sober and timeless reminder that the tongue, though physically small, possesses immense power for both profound good and grievous evil, capable of reflecting either divine grace and truth or demonic malice and destruction.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
This powerful verse serves as a timeless warning and a profound call to self-awareness and spiritual discipline regarding the use of our own words. In a contemporary world saturated with online slander, pervasive gossip, and divisive rhetoric, the imagery of sharpened tongues and hidden poison is strikingly relevant and convicting. We are called to guard our tongues with utmost diligence, recognizing their immense potential for both edification and destruction, for building up or tearing down. Just as David sought divine deliverance from those who wielded words as weapons, we, as followers of Christ, must strive to use our speech to build up, to speak truth in love, to offer grace, and to bring healing, rather than to tear down, deceive, or spread venom. Furthermore, this verse encourages discernment, helping us to recognize and protect ourselves from speech that is not merely critical but truly malicious, designed to destroy rather than to correct or uplift. It prompts us to pray for divine protection against verbal assaults and to cultivate a heart that speaks life, reflecting the character of God rather than the poison of the serpent.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does the "Selah" at the end of the verse signify?
Answer: "Selah" is a Hebrew word found frequently throughout the Psalms and the book of Habakkuk, widely interpreted as a musical or liturgical instruction. In the context of Psalms 140:3, it most likely indicates a pause for reflection, contemplation, or an instrumental interlude. It serves to emphasize the preceding statement, calling the reader or listener to deeply consider the gravity and devastating impact of the malicious, venomous speech just described. It's a moment to allow the truth to sink in, to ponder the spiritual weight of such wickedness, and perhaps to prepare for the next section of the psalm, which often involves a shift in tone or a deeper plea to God, as David continues his prayer for deliverance in Psalms 140:4-5.
How does this verse about malicious speech relate to New Testament teachings?
Answer: Psalms 140:3 finds significant echoes and elaborations in the New Testament, particularly in its warnings against the destructive power of the tongue. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 3:13, directly quotes a similar passage (likely from Psalms 58:4 or a conflation of several Psalms including this one) when describing humanity's fallen nature: "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips." This demonstrates that the problem of malicious speech is not new but a pervasive aspect of human sinfulness. James dedicates an entire section to the tongue, calling it an "unruly evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8), and warns that it can defile the whole body and set the course of one's life on fire (James 3:6). Jesus himself taught that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34), implying that venomous words are a symptom of a poisoned heart, reinforcing the profound need for inner transformation.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 140:3, with its vivid portrayal of sharpened tongues and adders' poison, finds profound Christ-centered fulfillment in several compelling ways. Firstly, Jesus himself was the ultimate and innocent target of such venomous speech. Throughout His earthly ministry, He endured relentless slander, false accusations, and malicious verbal attacks from religious leaders and hostile crowds. They "sharpened their tongues" against Him, accusing Him of blasphemy (Matthew 26:65), demon possession (Mark 3:22), and sedition (Luke 23:2), ultimately leading to His unjust crucifixion. Yet, in stark contrast to His accusers, Jesus "committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth" (1 Peter 2:22), and when reviled, He did not revile in return (1 Peter 2:23). He is the archetypal righteous sufferer, the innocent victim of the very evil described in this psalm. Secondly, Christ is the ultimate Deliverer from the power of such malicious speech. Through His atoning work on the cross, He disarmed the spiritual forces of wickedness that incite such verbal venom, offering freedom from their dominion. His own words, unlike the poison of the wicked, are "spirit and life" (John 6:63), bringing healing, truth, and eternal salvation. Finally, as the Incarnate Word (John 1:1), Jesus embodies the righteous speech that stands in absolute opposition to all evil. He not only suffered under the venom of humanity but also provides the divine antidote: the transformative power of His gospel, which purifies the heart and enables believers to speak words of grace, truth, and life, reflecting His divine character rather than the serpent's poison.