Psalms 10:7

His mouth is full of cursing,.... Or, "he has filled his mouth with cursing" (e) God and good men, his superiors, himself and others.

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

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, ,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.

Psalms 10:7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue [is] mischief and vanity.Ver. 7. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit] Such cursing men are cursed men; and for such slippery and deceitful persons the Lord is the avenger of all such, 1 Thessalonians 4:8. Under his tongue is mischief] That is, in his heart, which is by nature placed beneath the tongue, making its use of it for much mischief, Matthew 12:34 James 3:8. The word Toch, here rendered fraud, signifieth, properly, the middle of anything, Quoniam fraus in medio cordis est, saith R. David, because fraud is in the middle of the heart, and therehence sent into the mouth.

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

Verse 7. His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud] What a finished character! A blasphemer, a deceitful man, and a knave!

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

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.

7. Cursing… deceit… fraud—The word “cursing” may be rendered false swearing, as in Hosea 10:4; connected with lying, (Hosea 4:2, Psalms 59:12,) or execration, invoking a curse upon others; or it may