Yeremia 9:8

9:8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ¹ 

They are always telling lies. ² 

Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths.

But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ³ 

Keluaran 20:16

20:16 “You shall not give ⁴  false testimony ⁵  against your neighbor.

Mazmur 64:4

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent ⁶  in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ⁷ 

Yesaya 44:20

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ⁸ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ⁹ 

Yeremia 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ¹⁰  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ¹¹  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ¹²  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ¹³  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Mikha 6:12

6:12 The city’s rich men think nothing of resorting to violence; ¹⁴ 

her inhabitants lie, ¹⁵ 

their tongues speak deceptive words. ¹⁶ 

[9:8]  ¹ tc This reading follows the Masoretic consonants (the Kethib, a Qal active participle from שָׁחַט, shakhat). The Masoretes preferred to read “a sharpened arrow” (the Qere, a Qal passive participle from the same root or a homonym, meaning “hammered, beaten”). See HALOT 1354 s.v. II שָׁחַט for discussion. The exact meaning of the word makes little difference to the meaning of the metaphor itself.

[9:8]  ² tn Heb “They speak deceit.”

[9:8]  ³ tn Heb “With his mouth a person speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets an ambush for him.”

[20:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “answer” as in a court of law.

[20:16]  ⁵ tn The expression עֵד שָׁקֶר (’ed shaqer) means “a lying witness” (B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 388). In this verse the noun is an adverbial accusative, “you will not answer as a lying witness.” The prohibition is against perjury. While the precise reference would be to legal proceedings, the law probably had a broader application to lying about other people in general (see Lev 5:1; Hos 4:2).

[64:4]  ⁶ tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[44:20]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[18:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ¹² tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  sn These are the three channels through whom God spoke to his people in the OT. See Jer 8:8-10 and Ezek 7:26.

[18:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[6:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “because her rich are full of violence.”

[6:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “speak lies.”

[6:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and their tongue is deceptive in their mouth.”