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13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
    Their tongues are filled with lies.”
“Snake venom drips from their lips.”[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 3:13 Pss 5:9 (Greek version); 140:3.

My enemies cannot speak a truthful word.
    Their deepest desire is to destroy others.
Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
    Their tongues are filled with flattery.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 5:9 Greek version reads with lies. Compare Rom 3:13.

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

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27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

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Judgment for Disobedience

“My people bend their tongues like bows
    to shoot out lies.
They refuse to stand up for the truth.
    They only go from bad to worse.
They do not know me,”
    says the Lord.

“Beware of your neighbor!
    Don’t even trust your brother!
For brother takes advantage of brother,
    and friend slanders friend.
They all fool and defraud each other;
    no one tells the truth.
With practiced tongues they tell lies;
    they wear themselves out with all their sinning.

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I am surrounded by fierce lions
    who greedily devour human prey—
whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,
    and whose tongues cut like swords.

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In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.

But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.[a]

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:6 Or for it will burn in hell (Greek Gehenna).

34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

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Can your visions be anything but false if you claim, ‘This message is from the Lord,’ when I have not even spoken to you?

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Your hands are the hands of murderers,
    and your fingers are filthy with sin.
Your lips are full of lies,
    and your mouth spews corruption.

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All day long you plot destruction.
    Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor;
    you’re an expert at telling lies.

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Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him,

“You will be proved right in what you say,
    and you will win your case in court.”[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 3:4 Ps 51:4 (Greek version).

16 Their weapons are deadly;
    their warriors are mighty.

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Everything they say is crooked and deceitful.
    They refuse to act wisely or do good.

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May the Lord cut off their flattering lips
    and silence their boastful tongues.
They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.
    Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”

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33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
    the deadly poison of cobras.

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14 But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour,
    a poisonous venom in their stomach.
15 They will vomit the wealth they swallowed.
    God won’t let them keep it down.
16 They will suck the poison of cobras.
    The viper will kill them.

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