“Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, who plan evil things in their hearts; They continually gather together for war.” Psalm 140:1-2.

The above which was covered in the last post has been retained for context. We now turn to Psalm 140:3 to continue this psalm below.

“They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; the poison of asps is under their lips. Selah” Psalm 140:3.

In verses one and two the combination of evil men and violent men, in whose heart is evil always leads to physical violence, verse three now highlights the deadly power of words.

“They sharpen their tongues like a serpent…” reminds us of the first serpent, the outer appearance was one of beauty, yet the thoughts and intents of the heart was only evil. The serpent did not ask about God’s command, he questioned it:

“Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3:1b.

“Has God indeed said…”? reveals that the serpent had knowledge of God’s command, indicating that he heard God’s words when He spoke to Adam, yet he intentionally misquotes Him, “…You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”? this question and misquote puts Eve off-balance because she becomes confused about her own recollection of God’s command and the serpents misquote. As it turns out, Eve also misquotes God’s words:

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Genesis 3:2b.

“You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” God’s commandment was actually as follows:

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” Genesis 2:16-17.

“…nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” So the woman Eve had God’s commandment correct except that there was no prohibition against touching the tree.

This error enabled the serpent to further confuse poor Eve even more. This is also a lesson to us all; we must have a good grasp of the word of God to keep us from falling into one of Satan’s traps.

“And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” Genesis 3:4-5.

When someone makes a subtle or outrageous statement to us, we need to ask them for chapter and verse in the Bible so we can look it up in context.

Too often statements like “Jesus never claimed to be God.” go unchallenged by Christians who do not ask them, “Where does it say that in the Bible?” Scripture is the only place a Christian can defend God’s truth. See Jesus’ statement below:

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John 17:17.

Let us now return to eve’s error in quoting God:

“…but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Genesis 3:2b.

Due to Eve’s error the way is opened for the serpent to make an even greater assertion:

“And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5.

Hook, line and sinker!

“So when the woman saw that tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6.

“They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; the poison of asps is under their lips. Selah” Psalm 140:3.

Oh, how subtle they are, they sharpen their tongues until they have the skill of a serpent and they search out their victim whether an enemy, or someone to torment or impoverish.

The Christian must determine not to take on their ways or fall under their spell. And we must not forget we were under the same condemnation before we received Jesus Christ as our Savior from all these vain things.

“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’ ‘Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit’; ‘the poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” Romans 3:10-18.

“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no not one…’” neither the Jew nor the Gentile is innocent of the sins named above nor was any Christian before they accepted Jesus Christ as the complete payment for their sin.

“They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; the poison of asps is under their lips. Selah” Psalm 140:3.

The Christian must always remember that words can kill or destroy just as quickly as the poison of an asp. Words can also heal and comfort. Remember before you open your mouth, will they be poison or healing words?

Brethren let us all follow King David’s example and pray against falling into the hands of evil men,

“Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men…” Psalm 140:1.

Psalm 140:3 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-5-26 ck.

Please also pray for those in peril of earthquakes and dangerous fires covering most of the Northwest and inland.

Pray for Europe, which is menaced by record heat, deadly fires, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and Muslim invaders.

There are many record heat waves worldwide, violent volcanoes in Guatemala, Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy, earthquakes, in Japan, Guatemala, Venezuela, and our own San Andreas Fault on the west coast.

If you do not know what to pray for, pray for the gospel of Jesus Christ to go out in power worldwide and especially in these areas as they come to your mind.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.