who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,
Parallel translations
- WEB who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,
- KJV Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
- NKJV Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And bend their bows to shoot their arrows—bitter words,
- NASB Who have sharpened their tongues like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrows,
- NLT They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows.
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 use their tongues like swords and aim bitter words like arrows. It warns of the real and piercing harm that malicious speech can inflict.
Overview
David pictures slander and cruel speech as weapons sharpened and aimed to wound. Scripture often treats the tongue as capable of great destruction, and here it is the chosen weapon of the wicked. The contrast points us to Christ, who though reviled did not revile in return but committed Himself to the righteous Judge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 57:4My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts—with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
- Jer 9:3“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.
- Jas 3:6–8The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
- Ps 58:7May they vanish like water that runs off; when they draw the bow, may their arrows be blunted.
- Ps 11:2For behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrow on the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.
- Prov 12:18Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- Isa 54:17No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.
- Prov 30:14there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are knives, devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 64:3 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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