to snatch away · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
soul
נַ֭פְשִׁיNaf.shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
LORD
יְֽהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
lying
שֶׁ֑קֶרShe.ker
H8267
an untruth · noun, common masculine singular absolute
lips
מִשְּׂפַתmi.se.fat-
H8193
the lip (as a natural boundary) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
deceitful
רְמִיָּֽהre.mi.Yah
H7423
remissness · noun, common feminine singular absolute
tongue
מִלָּשׁ֥וֹןmi.la.Shon
H3956
the tongue (of man or animals) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 140:1-3 Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;
Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
Psalms 52:2-4 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
Psalms 35:11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
Matthew 26:59-62 Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 120:1-4
Here is, I. Deliverance from a false tongue obtained by prayer. David records his own experience of this.
1. He was brought into distress, into great distress, by lying lips and a deceitful tongue. There were those that sought his ruin, and had almost effected it, by lying. (1.) By telling lies to him. They flattered him with professions and protestations of friendships, and promises of kindness and service to him, that they might the more securely and without suspicion carry on their designs against him, and might have an opportunity, by betraying his counsels, to do him a mischief. They smiled in his face and kissed him, even when they were aiming to smite him under the fifth rib. The most…
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. Not from such lips, and such a tongue of his own, which David abhorred; though every good man desires to be kept from speaking lies and deceit; nor from the company of those who have such lips and tongues, which he was determined should not dwell with him; but from the malignity of them, from being hurt in his character and reputation by them; God can restrain them, and prevent the ill influence of them when he pleases, Psalm 31:20. Such were the lips and tongues of Doeg the Edomite, Psalm 52:2, and of Saul's courtiers, who insinuated to him that David sought his hurt, 1 Samuel 24:9; and of the Scribes and Pharisees, that…
Psalm 120:1-4
1. I cried [46] to Jehovah in my distress, and he answered me. 2. O Jehovah! deliver my soul from the lips [47] of falsehood, and from the tongue of deceit. [48] 3. What shall the tongue of deceit [49] give thee, and what shall avail thee? 4. The arrows of a strong man sharpened, with coals of junipers.
1. I cried to Jehovah in my distress. The name of the author of the Psalm is not expressed, but the style of it throughout presents David to our view. Although, therefore, I cannot positively affirm, yet I am rather inclined to think that it was composed by him. Nor will it be improper, in my judgment, to explain it as if his name had been mentioned in the inscription. This, t…
The Church Fathers
"Deliver my soul, O Lord, from unrighteous lips, and from a deceitful tongue" [Psalm 120:2]. What is a deceitful tongue? A treacherous tongue, one that has the semblance of counsel, and the bane of real mischief. Such are those who say, And will you do this, that nobody does? Will you be the only Christian?...Some deter by dissuasion, others discourage yet more by their praise. For since such is the life that has for some time been diffused over the world, so great is the authority of Christ, that not even a pagan ventures to blame Christ. He who cannot be censured is read. They cannot contradict Christ, they cannot contradict the Gospel, Christ cannot be censured; the deceitful tongue turns itself to praise as an hindrance. If you praise, exhort. Why do you discourage with your praise?...You turn yourself to another mode of dissuasion, that by false praise you may turn me away from true praise; nay, that by praising Christ you may keep me away from Christ, saying, What is this? Behold these men have done this: thou, perhaps, will not be able: you begin to ascend, you fall. It seems to warn you: it is the serpent, it is the deceitful tongue, it has poison. Pray against it, if you wish to ascend.
O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue. He says this about all heresies: he says it about the Jews, he says it about the Arians, he says it about the Manichees, he says it about the rest of the heresies. When the Arian says: The Father is greater, the Son lesser; what do we say? O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue. When the Manichee, and those like the Manichees, say: The Lord did not rise in the truth of a body, and — so that you may know it was not a true body — he entered with the doors shut: what do we say? O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue. The wounds of the tongue are greater than those of the sword. The sword kills the body, it does not kill the soul: the tongue kills the soul. The tongue is an evil thing, a great evil: 'it is indeed a small member, but it boasts great things.' How many evils the tongue has, read the epistle of the holy James. The tongue has nothing in the middle: either a great evil, or a great good. A great good, it confesses Christ to be God; a great evil, it denies Christ to be God. So then let no one suppose and say, Meanwhile I have not sinned in deed: if I have sinned, I have sinned with the tongue. What is a greater sin than blasphemy against God? and yet it is the tongue that sins. Whence did the devil fall? because he committed theft? because he committed murder? because he committed adultery? These indeed are evils: but the devil did not fall on account of these, but he fell on account of his tongue. For what did he say? 'I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven I will set my throne, and I will be like the Most High.' So then let not monks suppose that they ought to be secure, and say, Meanwhile we do not commit great crimes in the monastery: I do not commit adultery, I do not commit theft, I do not commit murder, I do not commit parricide, and the rest of the great vices. In the tongue too there are great vices. It is a great crime, when I slander my brother; with my tongue I kill my brother. 'For he who hates his brother is a murderer.' See what Solomon says: 'In the hand of the tongue are death and life.' See what he says, in the hand of the tongue. Do you see how great an evil the tongue is? and it has a hand too. For what does he say? In the hand of the tongue. It is a great vice to slander the brethren, to be…
Dictionary and topics
Passover — The name given to the chief of the three great historical annual festivals of the Jews. It was kept in remembrance of the Lord’s passing over the houses of the Israelites (Ex. 12:13) when the first…
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Deceit · .Pray for — .Pray for
Falsehood · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Speaking · EVIL — EVIL
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Psalms 120:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
According to the pointing ויּענני, the poet appears to base his present petition, which from Psa 120:2 onwards is the substance of the whole Psalm, upon the fact of a previous answering of his prayers. For the petition in Psa 120:2 manifestly arises out of his deplorable situation, which is described in Psa 120:5. Nevertheless there are also other instances in which ויענני might have been expected, where the pointing is ויּענני (Psa 3:5; Jon 2:3), so that consequently ויּענני may, without any prejudice to the pointing, be taken as a believing expression of the result (cf. the future of the consequence in Job 9:16) of the present cry for help. צרתה, according to the original signification, is…
Pss 120–134 These short, appealing songs were sung during pilgrims’ journeys to Jerusalem for the national festivals three times per year (Deut 16:16). The title of these psalms includes the Hebrew word for stairs, which some take to mean “ascending to Jerusalem.” These psalms (sometimes called the Songs of Ascents) take the reader on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to praise God for his goodness to Israel throughout history.
Ps 120 This short, individual lament expresses the psalmist’s trust that the Lord will deal with deceptive evildoers. It also laments living as a stranger among hateful liars. The psalmist’s picture of his life in a foreign land might have been a reality as he set out for Je…
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips. It will need divine power to save a man from these deadly instruments. Lips are soft: but when they are lying lips they suck away the life of character and are as murderous as razors. Lips should never be red with the blood of honest men's reputes, nor salved with malicious falsehoods. David says, "Deliver my soul": the soul, the life of the man, is endangered by lying lips; cobras are not more venomous, nor devils themselves more pitiless. Some seem to lie for lying sake, it is their sport and spirit: their lips deserve to be kissed with a hot iron; but it is not for the friends…
