Psalm 10:7

His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Cursing and deceit.—From the connection of cursing with deceit (comp. Hosea 4:2, “swearing and lying “), we must understand perjury.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 10:7. His mouth is full of cursing — Of oaths and blasphemies against God; of reviling and execration of other men, especially of those that are good, and those that stand in his way, and hinder his wicked designs; and, perhaps, also of oaths and imprecations against himself, by which he endeavours to gain credit, and to make his neighbours secure, and so to make way for the deceit and fraud here next mentioned. He sticks at nothing that may serve his ends: for he makes no conscience of calling for one curse after another upon himself to confirm those promises which he never intends to keep, or to swear that which he knows is false, that by these impious means he may deceive those who rely on his word or oath. Under his tongue — Under his fair and plausible speeches; is mischief — Mischievous wickedness lies hid, and vanity, or iniquity, as the word און, aven, is often rendered, or injury; the vexation or oppression of other men, which he covers with these fair pretences.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-11 God's withdrawings are very grievous to his people, especially in times of trouble. We stand afar off from God by our unbelief, and then complain that God stands afar off from us. Passionate words against bad men do more hurt than good; if we speak of their badness, let it be to the Lord in prayer; he can make them better. The sinner proudly glories in his power and success. Wicked people will not seek after God, that is, will not call upon him. They live without prayer, and that is living without God. They have many thoughts, many objects and devices, but think not of the Lord in any of them; they have no submission to his will, nor aim for his glory. The cause of this is pride. Men think it below them to be religious. They could not break all the laws of justice and goodness toward man, if they had not first shaken off all sense of religion.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His mouth is full of cursing - Profaneness; blasphemy against God. In the former verse the writer had described the feelings of the "heart;" he now proceeds to specify the open acts of the wicked. The meaning is, that the wicked man, as here described, was one who was full of imprecation, swearing, execration; a "profane" man; a man who, whatever was his belief about God, would constantly call upon his name, and imprecate his wrath on himself or others. An atheist, strange as it may seem, is as likely to make a frequent use of the name of God, and to call upon Him, as other people; just as profane people, who have no belief in the Saviour, swear by Jesus Christ. This passage seems to be referred to by the apostle Paul in Romans 3:14, not as a direct quotation, as if the psalmist referred to the point which he was arguing, but as language which expressed the idea that the apostle wished to convey. See the note at that passage.

And deceit - Margin, as in Hebrew, "deceits." The meaning is, that he was false and treacherous; and perhaps also that his treachery and fraud were accompanied with the solemn sanction of an oath, or an appeal to God, as is likely to be the case among fraudulent and dishonest people.

And fraud - The word used here - תך tôk - is now commonly supposed to mean rather "oppression or violence." See Gesenius' Lexicon. When this is attributed to his mouth, it means that what he says - what he requires - what he commands, is unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive.

Under his tongue - Perhaps alluding to the serpent, whose poison is concealed at the root of the fang or tooth, and therefore under the tongue. The meaning is, that beneath what the wicked say, though it seems to be harmless, as the tongue of the serpent does, yet there lies mischief and iniquity, as the poison is hidden beneath the serpent's tongue.

Is mischief - The word used here means properly labor, toil; then trouble, vexation, sorrow. The meaning here seems to be that there lies under the tongue that which gives or causes distress; to wit, wrong-doing; injustice to others.

And vanity - Margin, iniquity. This expresses the idea in the original word. Whatever he says is evil, and is fitted to produce trouble and sorrow, as the concealed poison in the mouth of the serpent causes pain and death.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7-10. The malignity and deceit (Ps 140:3) of such are followed by acts combining cunning, fraud, and violence (compare Pr 1:11, 18), aptly illustrated by the habits of the lion, and of hunters taking their prey. "Poor," in Ps 10:8, 10, 14, represents a word peculiar to this Psalm, meaning the sad or sorrowful; in Ps 10:9, as usual, it means the pious or meek sufferer.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of cursing; either,

1. Of oaths and blasphemies against God. Or,

2. Of reviling and execration of other men, especially those that are good; or those that stand in his way, and hinder his wicked designs. Or rather,

3. Of oaths and imprecations against himself, of which this word is used, Numbers 5:21 Deu 29:12,21 Ne 10:29; by which he endeavours to gain credit, and to make his neighbours secure, and so to make way for the

deceit and fraud which here follows. For this wretched man is represented both here, and in the succeeding verses, as one that doth not act with open violence and hostility, but with subtle and secret artifices, using all cunning insinuations, and flatteries, and lies, and, among others, oaths, of which an atheistical politician said, that men were to be deceived with oaths, and children with rattles or toys.

Deceit and fraud; two words signifying the same thing, to note the greatness and frequency of his deceits. Or one word may signify the deceit lurking in his heart, and the other the manifestation of it in external frauds and stratagems.

Under his tongue; either,

1. In his heart, which is under the tongue. Or rather,

2. Under his fair and plausible speeches the

mischief here following is hid and covered. Withal he seems to allude to serpents, whose poison lies hidden under the tongue or within their teeth.

Mischief and vanity; or rather, iniquity, as this word is oft rendered, or injury, the vexation or oppression of other men, which he covers with these fair pretences.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

His mouth is full of cursing,.... Or, "he has filled his mouth with cursing" (e) God and good men, his superiors, himself and others. The word signifies "an oath"; and may design either a profane oath, taking the name of God in vain; or an oath on a civil account, a false oath, taken with a design to defraud and deceive others, as follows, and intends perjury; and this, as applicable to antichrist, regards his mouth speaking great things and blasphemies against God, and uttering curses and anathemas against the saints, Revelation 13:5;

and deceit and fraud; such as flattery and lying, which are both used by him with an intention to impose upon and deceive. The apostle, in Romans 3:14; renders both these words by one, "bitterness"; which may be said of sin in general, which is a very bitter thing; though it is rolled as a sweet morsel in the mouth of a wicked man, yet in the issue it is bitterness to him: and it is applicable to sinful words, which are bitter in their effects to those against whom they are spoken, or who are deceived and imposed upon by them: and, as they refer to antichrist, may have respect to the lies in hypocrisy spoken by him, and to the deceitfulness of unrighteousness, by which he works upon those that perish, 1 Timothy 4:2;

under his tongue is mischief and vanity; alluding to serpents, who have little bags of poison under their teeth; see Psalm 140:3; Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, that the heart is under the tongue, being lower than it, and so denotes the wickedness which that is full of, and devises continually, and is latent in it until discovered; and is mischievous iniquity, injurious to God, and the honour of his law, and to fellow creatures; and especially to the saints, whose persons, characters, and estates, are aimed at; but in the issue it is all vanity, and a fruitless attempt, being blasted by God, and overruled for good to him; see Isaiah 54:17;

(e) .

Geneva Study Bible

His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. His sins of tongue; cursing,—which may include both malicious imprecation (Job 31:30, R.V.) and perjury (Psalm 59:12 : Hosea 4:2): deceits, the plural, as in Psalm 38:12, expressing their abundance and variety: oppression (Psalm 55:11, Psalm 72:14), which he advocates, or abets by false witness (Psalm 27:12, Psalm 35:11; Exodus 23:1).

Under his tongue, ready for immediate use, is a store of mischief and iniquity (Psalm 7:14). This is the usual interpretation; but it seems strange to regard ‘under the tongue’ as synonymous with ‘upon the tongue,’ and the use of the phrase in Job 20:12 suggests another explanation. Wickedness is there spoken of as a delicious morsel which is kept in the mouth to be enjoyed. (See Prof. Davidson’s note.) And similarly here the mention of the mouth as the organ of speech leads up to the thought of the tongue as the organ of taste. Mischief and iniquity are thoroughly to the wicked man’s taste. Cp. Proverbs 19:28, which speaks of iniquity as the wicked man’s favourite food: and Job 15:16.

The first half of the verse (according to the LXX) is woven by St Paul into his description of human corruption in Romans 3:14.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - His mouth is full of cursing. (On the prevalence of this evil habit among the powerful in David's time, see Psalm 59:12; Psalm 109:17, 18; 2 Samuel 16:5.) And deceit and fraud; or, guile and extortion (Kay); comp. Psalm 36:3; Psalm 55:11. Under his tongue is mischief and vanity; rather, as in the margin, mischief and iniquity. These are stored "under his tongue," ready for utterance whenever he finds a fit occasion. Psalm 10:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Then in his boundless carnal security he gives free course to his wicked tongue. That which the believer can say by reason of his fellowship with God, בּל־אמּוט (Psalm 30:7; Psalm 16:8), is said by him in godless self-confidence. He looks upon himself in age after age, i.e., in the endless future, as אשׁר לא ברע, i.e., as one who (אשׁר as in Isaiah 8:20) will never be in evil case (ברע as in Exodus 5:19; 2 Samuel 16:8). It might perhaps also be interpreted according to Zechariah 8:20, Zechariah 8:23 (vid., Kצhler, in loc.): in all time to come (it will come to pass) that I am not in misfortune. But then the personal pronoun (אני or הוּא) ought not be omitted; whereas with our interpretation it is supplied from אמּוט, and there is no need to supply anything if the clause is taken as an apposition: in all time to come he who.... In connection with such unbounded self-confidence his mouth is full of אלה, cursing, execratio (not perjury, perjurium, a meaning the word never has), מרמות, deceit and craft of every kind, and תּך, oppression, violence. And that which he has under his tongue, and consequently always in readiness for being put forth (Psalm 140:4, cf. Psalm 66:17), is trouble for others, and in itself matured wickedness. Paul has made use of this Psalm 10:7 in his contemplative description of the corruptness of mankind, Romans 3:14.