Romans 3:13
New Living Translation
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]
Psalm 5:9
New Living Translation
9 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]
Psalm 140:3
New Living Translation
3 Their tongues sting like a snake;
the venom of a viper drips from their lips. Interlude
Matthew 23:27-28
New Living Translation
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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Jeremiah 9:3-5
New Living Translation
Judgment for Disobedience
3 “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.
4 “Beware of your neighbor!
Don’t even trust your brother!
For brother takes advantage of brother,
and friend slanders friend.
5 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.
Psalm 57:4
New Living Translation
4 I am surrounded by fierce lions
who greedily devour human prey—
whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,
and whose tongues cut like swords.
James 3:5-8
New Living Translation
5 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. 6 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]
7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 3:6 Or for it will burn in hell (Greek Gehenna).
Matthew 12:34-35
New Living Translation
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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Ezekiel 13:7
New Living Translation
7 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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Isaiah 59:3
New Living Translation
3 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.
Psalm 52:2
New Living Translation
2 All day long you plot destruction.
Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor;
you’re an expert at telling lies.
Romans 3:4
New Living Translation
4 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]
Jeremiah 5:16
New Living Translation
16 Their weapons are deadly;
their warriors are mighty.
Psalm 36:3
New Living Translation
3 Everything they say is crooked and deceitful.
They refuse to act wisely or do good.
Psalm 12:3-4
New Living Translation
3 May the Lord cut off their flattering lips
and silence their boastful tongues.
4 They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.
Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
Deuteronomy 32:33
New Living Translation
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
the deadly poison of cobras.
Job 20:14-16
New Living Translation
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.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.