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Lord, deliver my soul from lying lips,
    from a treacherous tongue.(A)

What will he inflict on you,
    O treacherous tongue,
    and what more besides?[a]
A warrior’s arrows
    sharpened with coals of brush wood![b](B)

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Footnotes

  1. 120:3 More besides: a common curse formula in Hebrew was “May the Lord do such and such evils to you [the evils being specified], and add still more to them,” cf. 1 Sm 3:17; 14:44; 25:22. Here the psalmist is at a loss for a suitable malediction.
  2. 120:4 Coals of brush wood: coals made from the stalk of the broom plant burn with intense heat. The psalmist thinks of lighted coals cast at his enemies.

Save me, Lord,
    from lying lips(A)
    and from deceitful tongues.(B)

What will he do to you,
    and what more besides,
    you deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,(C)
    with burning coals of the broom bush.

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