Mazmur 52:4

52:4 You love to use all the words that destroy, ¹ 

and the tongue that deceives.

Mazmur 109:2

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

they lie to me. ² 

Mazmur 109:20

109:20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way, ³ 

those who say evil things about ⁴  me! ⁵ 

[52:4]  ¹ 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.

[109:2]  ² 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.”

[109:20]  ³ tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the Lord.”

[109:20]  ⁴ tn Or “against.”

[109:20]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).