who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words,

  • KJV King James Version

    Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    (64-4) Who have whet their tongue like a sword, and have aimed their arrow, a poisoned word;

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Cross-references (8)

Passages linked to Psalms 64:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Psalms 57:4 My 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.
  • Psalms 58:7 Let them vanish like water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
  • Jeremiah 9:3 “They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. 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.
  • James 3:6-8 And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
  • Psalms 11:2 For, behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrows on the strings, that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
  • Proverbs 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.
  • Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.
  • Proverbs 30:14 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (15 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 3 For they have whetted their tongue like a…

3 For they have whetted their tongue like a sword His enemies, in their rage, aimed at nothing less than his life, and yet what he complains of, more than all beside, is the poison with which their words were imbued. It is probable that he refers to the calumnious reports which he knew to be falsely spread to his discredit, and with a view of damaging his reputation with the people. Their tongues he likens to swords; their bitter and venomous words to arrows. And when he adds, that, they shoot against the upright and innocent, he is to be considered as contrasting his integrity with their unprincipled conduct. It inspired him with confidence in his religious addresses, to know that he could exonerate his own conscience from guilt, and that he was the object of undeserved attack by worthless and abandoned men. In mentioning that they shoot secretly and suddenly, he refers to the craft which characterised them. They were not only eagerly bent upon mischief, and intent in watching their opportunities, but so expert and quick in their movements, as to smite their victim before he could suspect danger. When we hear that David, who was a man in every respect so much more holy and upright in his conduct than ourselves, suffered from groundless aspersions upon his character, we have no reason to be surprised that we should be exposed to a similar trial. This comfort, at least, we always have, that we can betake ourselves to God, and obtain his defense of the upright cause. He takes particular notice of another circumstance, that they shot their empoisoned arrows from their lips without fear, or shame. This self-secure spirit argued a degree of abandoned presumption, in so far as they could persist in obstinately pursuing the conduct in which they had been repeatedly detected, and renew their desperate attempts, to the disregard of all fear of God or worldly shame.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain False reports and slanders.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 64:3 Who whet their tongue like a sword,…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Bend their bows to shoot their arrows; of which…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Who whet their tongue like a sword,.... Use cutting,…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Who whet their tongue like a sword]…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Who whet their tongue like a sword - Who…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Similar figures for slander (Psa 57:4; Psa 59:7).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Bend their bows—Hebrew, They have bent their arrows.…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. Who whet] R.V., who have whet. For the…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) For the figure in this and the following…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Who whet their tongue like a sword. (comp. Psa_55:21…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 3. Who whet their tongue like a sword.…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 They have sharpened their tongues like swords
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 64:3 their tongues . . . bitter words: Liars…

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