Mazmur 35:11

35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, ¹ 

and falsely accuse me. ² 

Mazmur 52:2-4

52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; ³ 

it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. ⁴ 

52:3 You love evil more than good,

lies more than speaking the truth. ⁵  (Selah)

52:4 You love to use all the words that destroy, ⁶ 

and the tongue that deceives.

Mazmur 109:1-2

Psalm 109 ⁷ 

For the music director, a psalm of David.

109:1 O God whom I praise, do not ignore me! ⁸ 

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

they lie to me. ⁹ 

Mazmur 140:1-3

Psalm 140 ¹⁰ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

140:1 O Lord, rescue me from wicked men! ¹¹ 

Protect me from violent men, ¹² 

140:2 who plan ways to harm me. ¹³ 

All day long they stir up conflict. ¹⁴ 

140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; ¹⁵ 

a viper’s ¹⁶  venom is behind ¹⁷  their lips. (Selah)

Matius 26:59-62

26:59 The ¹⁸  chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 26:60 But they did not find anything, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally ¹⁹  two came forward 26:61 and declared, “This man ²⁰  said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” 26:62 So ²¹  the high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?”

[35:11]  ¹ tn Heb “witnesses of violence rise up.”

[35:11]  ² tn Heb “[that] which I do not know they ask me.”

[52:2]  ³ tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”

[52:2]  ⁴ 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.

[52:3]  ⁵ tn Or “deceit more than speaking what is right.”

[52:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “you love all the words of swallowing.” Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallowing” in the sense of “devouring” or “destructive” (see BDB 118 s.v. בָּלַע). HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע proposes a homonym here, meaning “confusion.” This would fit the immediate context nicely and provide a close parallel to the following line, which refers to deceptive words.

[109:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 109. Appealing to God’s justice, the psalmist asks God to vindicate him and to bring severe judgment down upon his enemies.

[109:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “do not be deaf.”

[109:2]  ⁹ 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.”

[140:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 140. The psalmist asks God to deliver him from his deadly enemies, calls judgment down upon them, and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.

[140:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from a wicked man.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).

[140:1]  ¹² tn Heb “a man of violent acts.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).

[140:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”

[140:2]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.

[140:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”

[140:3]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.

[140:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “under.”

[26:59]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Now the.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:60]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:61]  ²⁰ tn Grk “This one.”

[26:62]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the false testimony.