Psalm 59:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter,

NIV: For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies they utter,

NASB: On account of the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips, May they even be caught in their pride, And on account of curses and lies which they tell.

CSB: For the sin of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. They utter curses and lies.

NLT: Because of the sinful things they say, because of the evil that is on their lips, let them be captured by their pride, their curses, and their lies.

KJV: For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.

NKJV: For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, Let them even be taken in their pride, And for the cursing and lying which they speak.

The incident which inspired this psalm was an attempted assassination. Saul, the king, sent his men to watch David's house. Michal, who was David's wife and Saul's daughter, helped David escape the plot (1 Samuel 19:11–16). David has already prayed for rescue from such men (Psalm 59:1–2). He has noted that they wait in ambush (Psalm 59:3) and compared them to unclean animals (Psalm 59:6–7). He prays for God to make an example of these evil ones (Psalm 59:11) before they are utterly destroyed (Psalm 59:13).

Now David includes his enemies' evil words as a reason for them to be judged. To arrange this attempted murder, Saul and his men would have plotted and discussed their plans. David knows that Saul is targeting him for no reason (Psalm 59:3; 1 Samuel 20:30–33). To justify a murder plot, lies must be involved. What they say is evil, and prideful, presuming they can invent reasons to attack the innocent and not suffer consequences.

Proverbs 6:16–19 includes sins related to words among those God intensely hates. In that passage, those are labeled as "a lying tongue" and "a false witness who breathes out lies." In the days of the early church, Ananias and Saphira lied to the Holy Spirit. This brought God's judgment in the form of death (Acts 5:1–11).

Psalm 59:9–17 delivers an appropriate climax to David's cry for deliverance from his enemies. David puts his trust in God. He anticipates divine wrath being poured out on his unclean, beastly enemies. He also looks forward to more opportunities to offer praise for God's protection and love. As part of an "imprecatory" psalm, David calls on the Lord to make His retribution harsh and public, so the world will see it and acknowledge God.

David prays, asking the Lord to deliver him from a lurking band of bloodthirsty enemies. He calls on the God of Israel to make an example of these lying, evil men, and to destroy them entirely. Rather than despair, David firmly trusts in the Lord and looks forward to victory. David concludes his psalm with praise to the Lord, his Strength, whose love is loyal. David praises God for being his fortress and shelter.

This is one of many psalms where David prays for rescue from his enemies (Psalm 3:1–3; 7:1–2; 54:1–2). King Saul jealously sent men to wait outside David's home to assassinate him (1 Samuel 19:11–16), but David was able to escape with the help of his wife. Because David asks for the Lord to severely judge the wicked, this is considered one of the "imprecatory" psalms, along with Psalms 5, 10, 58, 69, 83, 109, 137, 140, and others.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.