“Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The venom of asps is under their lips”;
Parallel translations
- WEB “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips”;
- KJV Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
- BSB “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
- NKJV “Theirthroat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”;
- NLT “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies.” “Snake venom drips from their lips.”
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
Drawing on the Psalms, Paul pictures the corruption of human speech as deadly and deceitful. It shows that sin defiles even our words.
Overview
Quoting Psalm 5:9 and Psalm 140:3, Paul illustrates how sin pervades human communication, comparing the throat to an open grave and the tongue to a viper's venom. The vivid imagery exposes the deadly, deceptive nature of fallen speech. Such language demonstrates that sin is not merely outward action but flows from a corrupted heart needing redemption.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 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.
- Ps 140:3They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah.
- Matt 23:27–28“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
- Ps 57:4My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
- Jer 9:3–5“They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they have grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know me,” says Yahweh.
- Ezek 13:7Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but I have not spoken?”
- Jas 3:5–8So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!
- Ps 52:2Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- Matt 12:34–35You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
- Isa 59:3For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness.
- Rom 3:4May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “That you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment.”
- Ps 36:3The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
- Jer 5:16Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men.
- Deut 32:33Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
- Ps 12:3–4May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts,
- Job 20:14–16yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 3:13 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.