Romans 3:13

“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Paul quotes the Psalms in a catena (Romans 3:10–18) asserting that both Jew and Gentile are under sin. The "they" is universal, not a specific audience.

The words — τᾶφος (taphos, "grave") and ἀνεῳγμένος (aneōgmenos, "opened") form the image: the throat is an open grave, death issuing from the mouth.

The thread — The language comes directly from Psalms 5:9 and 140:3; Matthew 23:27 redeploys the tomb image against the Pharisees as "whitewashed tombs."

Why it lands — Paul places the reader inside the "they" of 3:12 ("all have turned away"), so the image is not about others but a self-diagnosis: the mouth that speaks is the same throat that is a grave.

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 Greek words

τάφοςtaphosA grave ἀνεῳγμένοςaneōgmenosopened ὁho[is] the λάρυγξlarugxthroat αὐτῶν,autōnof them,ταῖςtaiswith the γλώσσαιςglōssaistongues αὐτῶνautōnof them ἐδολιοῦσαν·edoliousanthey were practicing deceit;ἰὸςios[the] venom ἀσπίδωνaspidōnof vipers ὑπὸhupo[is] under τὰtathe χείληcheilēlips αὐτῶν·autōnof them;

King James Version

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Cross-references

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 140:3 They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
Matthew 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
Psalms 57:4 My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts—with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
Jeremiah 9:3 “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
Psalms 52:2 Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
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.
Ezekiel 13:7 Haven’t you seen a false vision and spoken a lying divination when you proclaim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ even though I have not spoken?
Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
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.