Mazmur 5:6

5:6 You destroy ¹  liars; ² 

the Lord despises ³  violent and deceitful people. ⁴ 

Mazmur 58:3

58:3 The wicked turn aside from birth; ⁵ 

liars go astray as soon as they are born. ⁶ 

Mazmur 63:11

63:11 But the king ⁷  will rejoice in God;

everyone who takes oaths in his name ⁸  will boast,

for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. ⁹ 

[5:6]  ¹ tn The imperfect verbal form indicates God’s typical response to such individuals. Another option is to translate the verb as future (“You will destroy”); the psalmist may be envisioning a time of judgment when God will remove the wicked from the scene.

[5:6]  ² tn Heb “those who speak a lie.” In the OT a “lie” does not refer in a general philosophical sense to any statement that fails to correspond to reality. Instead it refers more specifically to a slanderous and/or deceitful statement that promotes one’s own selfish, sinful interests and/or exploits or harms those who are innocent. Note the emphasis on violence and deceit in the following line.

[5:6]  ³ tn The imperfect verbal form highlights the Lord’s characteristic attitude toward such individuals.

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “a man of bloodshed and deceit.” The singular אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) is used here in a collective or representative sense; thus the translation “people” is appropriate here. Note the plural forms in vv. 5-6a.

[58:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[58:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “speakers of a lie go astray from the womb.”

[63:11]  ⁷ sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.

[63:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”

[63:11]  ⁹ tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.