Psalms 140:3

Their tongues wound like a serpent; ¹  a viper’s ²  venom is behind ³  their lips. (Selah)

Ge 3:13; Ps 52:2,3; Ps 57:4; Ps 58:4; Ps 59:7; Ps 64:3,4; Pr 12:18; Pr 23:32; Isa 59:3-5,13; Jer 9:3,5; Mt 12:34; Ro 3:13,14; 2Co 11:3; Jas 3:6-8

¹ 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 tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.

³ tn Heb “under.”