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Their tongues wound like a serpent;[a]
a viper’s[b] venom is behind[c] their lips. (Selah)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 140:3 tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”
  2. Psalm 140:3 tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.
  3. Psalm 140:3 tn Heb “under.”