Psalm 139 v3: Sins of the tongue

Verse 3 of Psalm 139 can be interpreted Christologically as a reference to the plotting of the Pharisees and chief priests, and spiritually as a reference to the sins of heresy, calumny, detraction, abuse and deception.

Looking at the Latin

Phrase by phrase

Acuérunt linguas suas sicut serpéntis: venénum áspidum sub lábiis eórum

They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.

Here the words of the evil men of the previous verses are compared to venomous snakes, waiting to strike.

Word by word:

Acuérunt (They sharpened) linguas (the tongues) suas (their) sicut (like) serpéntis (snakes): * venénum (the venom) áspidum (of vipers) sub (under) lábiis (the lips) eórum (their).

The key vocabulary for the verse is:

acuo ui utum ere 3 to make sharp or pointed; whet, sharpen

serpens, entis,  a creeping thing, a reptile; a snake, serpent

venenum i n venom, poison

The Latin translations

The differences between the Vulgate and the other Latin versions of this verse are minimal: the Pian 'corrects' sicut serpentis to  ut serpens, while St Jerome’s version from the Hebrew provides only minor variants:

3	V/OR/NV	Acuérunt linguas suas sicut serpéntis: * venénum áspidum sub lábiis eórum.
	Pian	Acuunt linguas suas ut serpens: Venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum.
	JH	Exacuerunt linguam suam quasi serpens; uenenum aspidis sub labiis eorum.
	Sept	ἠκόνησαν γλῶσσαν αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ ὄφεως  ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν διάψαλμα

[Abbreviations: V=Vulgate; OR=Old Roman; NV=Neo-Vulgate; Jh=St Jerome's translation from the Hebrew; Sept=Septuagint]

As a result the English translations generally don't differ much in substance:

DR	They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.
Brenton	They have sharpened their tongue as [the tongue] of a serpent; the poison of asps is under their lips.
MD	They sharpen their tongues like that of a serpent, the poison of asps is under their lips.
RSV	They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the poison of vipers
Cover	They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adder’s poison is under their lips.
Knox	tongues sharp as the tongues of serpents, lips that hide the poison of adders.
Grail	who sharpen their tongue like an adder's, with the poison of viper on their lips.

[Abbreviations: DR=Douay-Rheims Challoner; MD=Monastic Diurnal; RSV=Revised Standard Version; Cover=Coverdale]

In Scripture

This verse is quoted twice in the New Testament, first by St Paul in Romans 3:

No, not at all; for I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."

and secondly in St James 3:

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

It is also repeated - at least in older psalters, though culled from modern ones on the basis that it is a textual error - in Psalm 13:3:

3   Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt. Non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum. Sepulchrum patens est guttur eorum; linguis suis dolose agebant. Venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum, quorum os maledictione et amaritudine plenum est; veloces pedes eorum ad effundendum sanguinem. Contritio et infelicitas in viis eorum, et viam pacis non cognoverunt; non est timor Dei ante oculos eorum.

3   They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.

Heretics?

St Cassiodorus draws on St Paul to suggest that the verse refers to the 'malice and guile of heretics':

Tongues denotes their words which are polished on the whetstones of wickedness and seek to wound the hearts of simple people. They are aptly matched with serpents, for they vomit forth poison in their words and so are compared with deaf asps. The purpose of their striving is the desire in their obstinacy of mind never to be overcome by the truth. This figure is known as parabole? for objects unlike each other in kind are compared in their debased natures.

Abuse, calumny, detraction and deception

St Robert Bellarmine perhaps follows St James more closely, pointing to sins of calumny, detraction and the like:

The second persecution of our enemies is that of the tongue, which consists in calumny, detraction, abuse, deception, and the like, resorted to by our fellow creatures, either through selfishness or through revenge, and by the evil spirit, with a view of provoking man to impatience or anger, or hatred of his neighbor, and to the sins consequent thereon. 

The key to avoiding such sins is given in the next psalm, which asks God to set a watch over our mouth and a gate over our lips, so that we avoid saying what should not be said. 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, a psalm of David.
1 Eripe me, Dómine, ab hómine malo: * a viro iníquo éripe me.	Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
2 Qui cogitavérunt iniquitátes in corde: * tota die constituébant prælia.	3 Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
3 Acuérunt linguas suas sicut serpéntis: * venénum áspidum sub lábiis eórum.	4 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.
4 Custódi me, Dómine, de manu peccatóris: * et ab homínibus iníquis éripe me.	5 Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me.
5 Qui cogitavérunt supplantáre gressus meos: * abscondérunt supérbi láqueum mihi:	Who have proposed to supplant my steps: 6 The proud have hidden a net for me.
6 Et funes extendérunt in láqueum: * juxta iter scándalum posuérunt mihi.	And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling block by the wayside.
7. Dixi Dómino : Deus meus es tu: * exáudi, Dómine, vocem deprecatiónis meæ.	7 I said to the Lord: You are my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
8 Dómine, Dómine, virtus salútis meæ: * obumbrásti super caput meum in die belli.	8 O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: you have overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
9 Ne tradas me, Dómine, a desidério meo peccatóri: * cogitavérunt contra me, ne derelínquas me, ne forte exalténtur.	9 Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not forsake me, lest they should triumph.
10 Caput circúitus eórum: * labor labiórum ipsórum opériet eos.	10 The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.
11 Cadent super eos carbónes, in ignem dejícies eos: * in misériis non subsístent.	11 Burning coals shall fall upon them; you will cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
12 Vir linguósus non dirigétur in terra: * virum injústum mala cápient in intéritu.	12 A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.
13 Cognóvi quia fáciet Dóminus judícium ínopis: * et vindíctam páuperum.	13 I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.
14 Verúmtamen justi confitebúntur nómini tuo: * et habitábunt recti cum vultu tuo.	14 But as for the just, they shall give glory to your name: and the upright shall dwell with your countenance.

And for notes on verse 4 of Psalm 139, continue on here.