Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 64:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 64:3: Within “Hidden plots brought into public judgment,” the line “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows…” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.
Read It With
- Psalms 64:1–10
Read Psalms 64:3 with 64:1–10. Read alone, “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to…” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 64:1–10, the individual voice carries the movement “Hidden plots brought into public judgment” as part of “Hidden plots brought into public judgment.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 64:1–10 opens Psalm 64 with “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy” and establishes the individual voice and “Hidden plots brought into public judgment” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 64:3 develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit.
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 64:1–10; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 64:1–10, the individual voice carries the movement “Hidden plots brought into public judgment” as part of “Hidden plots brought into public judgment.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The poem protests covert harm; it does not make suspicion evidence or justify surveillance and retaliation.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 64:3 does not allow “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to…” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit. The complete movement is “Hidden plots brought into public judgment.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The poem protests covert harm; it does not make suspicion evidence or justify surveillance and retaliation.
What Remains True
Book II gives Psalm 64:3 a larger home, while “Hidden plots brought into public judgment” supplies its immediate one. Psalm 64:3 develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit. Therefore, Wrong and rage may be named honestly before the LORD, yet judgment remains accountable to justice and never turns another person into disposable prey. The local movement is “Hidden plots brought into public judgment.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The poem protests covert harm; it does not make suspicion evidence or justify surveillance and retaliation.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Psalm 64:3 belongs to “Hidden plots brought into public judgment,” its role must lead the practice: Psalm 64:3 develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit. When “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to…” voices danger or judgment, verify the harm, protect those at risk, and submit retaliation to lawful and accountable processes.
Teach It Back
Starting from the verse role—Psalm 64:3 develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit.—walk through the parallel lines of Psalms 64:1–10. State what remains true, how it shapes life, what remains uncertain, and why the poem does not authorize this use: This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The poem protests covert harm; it does not make suspicion evidence or justify surveillance and retaliation.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 64:1–10 — Hidden plots brought into public judgmentSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 64:1–10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 64:1–10
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 64:1–10.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 64 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 64:1–10
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 64:1–10
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 64 for Psalms 64:1–10
Open NETS Psalms ↗