Bible Strands
Psalms 50:19
You unleash your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses a covenant breaker who has socially aligned with thieves and adulterers, diagnosing the precise moment their moral compromise erupts in speech.
The words — שָׁלַ֣חְתָּ (sha.Lach.ta) means "you let loose," and תַּצְמִ֥יד (tatz.Mid) means "it harnesses" or "bridles." These verbs frame speech not as accidental but as a deliberate, uncontrolled force.
The thread — This pattern of corrupted speech appears in Psalms 10:7, where the mouth fills with cursing and deceit, and Jeremiah 9:5, which notes that people have taught their tongues to lie. It echoes Psalm 52:2, where the tongue actively devises destruction like a weapon.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that unchecked words are active moral failures requiring accountability. It calls the reader to treat speech as a deliberate act that must be governed by truth rather than left to exploit others.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
Cross-references
- Psalms 10:7 His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.
- Psalms 52:2 Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
- Jeremiah 9:5 Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.
- Revelation 21:8 But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
- Psalms 5:9 For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
- Psalms 55:21 His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.
- Isaiah 59:3 For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice.
- Romans 3:13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
- James 3:5 In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.
- Psalms 12:2 They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.