Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Parallel translations
- WEB whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
- BSB whose mouths speak falsehood, whose right hands are deceitful.
- NKJV Whose mouth speaks lying words, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
- NASB Whose mouth speaks deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
- NLT Their mouths are full of lies; they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David's enemies speak deceit and swear falsely with their right hand. It exposes the lying treachery of those who oppose him.
Overview
David characterizes his foes by their deceit and false oaths, a 'right hand of falsehood' marking broken faith. Such dishonesty contrasts with God's faithfulness. Deliverance from deceivers anticipates the kingdom of Christ, in whose mouth no deceit was found and who establishes truth (1 Peter 2:22; Revelation 21:8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 12:2They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
- Ps 62:4They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
- Ps 41:6And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
- Isa 44:20He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
- Matt 5:30And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
- Ps 10:7His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
- Rev 13:16–17And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
- Deut 32:40For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
- Ps 58:3The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
- Isa 59:5–7They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
- Gen 14:22And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
- Ps 106:26Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:
- Ps 109:2–3For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 144:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.