Everything they say is crooked and deceitful. They refuse to act wisely or do good.
Parallel translations
- WEB The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
- KJV The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.
- BSB The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
- NKJV The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
- NASB The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
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
The wicked man's words are full of iniquity and deceit, and he has abandoned wisdom and goodness. Corruption shows in his speech and conduct.
Overview
David traces the fruit of godlessness: lying and harmful speech, and the deliberate forsaking of wisdom and good. What begins as no fear of God (v.1) issues in deceitful words and a settled abandonment of right living. Such description underscores humanity's need for the transforming grace that makes the tongue and life new in Christ (Ephesians 4:29).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Jer 4:22“For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
- Ps 55:21His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
- Matt 22:15–18Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.
- 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.
- Ps 10:7His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
- Ps 58:3The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
- 1 Sam 13:13–14Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you; for now Yahweh would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.
- Zeph 1:6those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.
- Ps 12:2–3Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Ps 94:8Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?
- 1 Sam 11:6–13God’s Spirit came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger burned hot.
- 1 Sam 16:14Now Yahweh’s Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him.
- Ps 125:5But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.
- 1 Sam 19:6–7Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.”
- Heb 10:39But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.
- Matt 22:35One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.
- 1 Sam 18:21Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, “You shall today be my son-in-law a second time.”
- 1 Sam 26:21Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes today. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.”
- Ps 140:3They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah.
- Ps 5:9For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.
- 1 Sam 15:26Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected Yahweh’s word, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
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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 36:3 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
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