Psalms 140:3

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

They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips. Selah

They sharpen their tongues as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah.

Their tongues sting like a snake; the poison of a viper drips from their lips. Interlude

They practice the sharp rhetoric of hate and hurt, speak venomous words that maim and kill.

Their tongues are sharp like the tongue of a snake; the poison of snakes is under their lips. (Selah.)

They make their tongue sharp as a snake’s, and under their lips is the venom of vipers. Selah

They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah

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

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.”