For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
Parallel translations
- WEB For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.
- KJV For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
- NKJV For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue.
- NASB For there is nothing trustworthy in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue.
- NLT My enemies cannot speak a truthful word. Their deepest desire is to destroy others. Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with flattery.
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 describes the corruption of his enemies, whose words are deadly and deceitful. Their flattering speech masks destructive hearts.
Overview
David exposes the unreliability and ruin within his enemies: no truth in their mouths, hearts bent on destruction, throats like open graves. Paul gathers this verse into his indictment of universal human sinfulness (Romans 3:13). It reminds us that apart from grace, the corruption David sees in his foes marks every fallen heart and drives us to the cleansing only Christ provides.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Jer 9:3–6“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- Rom 3:13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
- Ps 62:4They fully intend to cast him down from his lofty perch; they delight in lies; with their mouths they bless, but inwardly they curse. Selah
- Mic 6:12For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.
- Prov 29:5A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
- Luke 11:44Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.”
- Ps 52:2Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
- Ps 51:6Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
- Ps 64:6They devise injustice and say, “We have perfected a secret plan.” For the inner man and the heart are mysterious.
- Jer 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Ps 12:2–3They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
- Job 32:21–22I will be partial to no one, nor will I flatter any man.
- Ps 36:1–4For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. An oracle is in my heart regarding the transgression of the wicked man: There is no fear of God before his eyes.
- Ps 58:2–3No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.
- Ps 111:1–3Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
- Mark 7:21–22For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- Rom 1:29–31They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
- Ps 62:9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
- Jer 4:14Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Luke 11:39“Now then,” said the Lord, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.
- 1 Th 2:5As you know, we never used words of flattery or any pretext for greed. God is our witness!
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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 5:9 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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