Bible Strands
Psalms 52:4
You love every word that devours, O deceitful tongue.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses a court official who has aligned himself with royal power to destroy the faithful. The declaration occurs within a lament detailing the impending judgment on this enemy for his malicious speech.
The words — The Hebrew אָהַ֥בְתָּ ('a.hav.ta) means "you love," paired with בָ֗לַע (va.la) "swallowing" or "devouring" to describe how the tongue consumes its targets. These terms frame the enemy's speech not merely as lies but as an active, predatory appetite.
The thread — This condemnation of destructive speech echoes in Psalms 120:3, which confronts a deceitful tongue, and James 3:6, which describes the tongue as a fire that pollutes the whole person. The pattern extends to historical accounts like 1 Samuel 22:18, where a court official executes the king's violent orders.
Why it lands — The text states that malicious words function as instruments of destruction rather than harmless rhetoric. It calls readers to reject speech that consumes others and to align their communication with truth rather than deceit.
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 lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
Cross-references
- Psalms 120:3 What will He do to you, and what will be added to you, O deceitful tongue?
- James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
- 1 Samuel 22:18 So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.