Psalms 31:18

Let the lying lips be put to silence,.... Being convicted of the lies told by them, and so silenced and confounded; or being cut off and destroyed, as all such will be in the Lord's own time, Psa 12:

In this section of the Psalm he renews his prayers, urging the same pleas as at first: earnest wrestlers attempt over and over again the same means of gaining their point.

Let the lying lips be put to silence. A right good and Christian prayer; who but a bad man would give liars more license than need be? May God silence them either by leading them to repentance, by putting them to thorough shame, or by placing them in positions where what they may say will stand for nothing. Which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. The sin of slanderers lies partly in the matter of their speech; "they speak grievous things; "things cutting deep into the feelings of good men, and wounding them sorely in that tender place—their reputations. The sin is further enhanced by the manner of their speech; they speak proudly and contemptuously; they talk as if they themselves were the cream of society, and the righteous the mere scum of vulgarity. Proud thoughts of self are generally attended by debasing estimates of others. The more room we take up ourselves, the less we can afford our neighbours. What wickedness it is that unworthy characters should always be the loudest in railing at good men! They have no power to appreciate moral worth of which they are utterly destitute, and yet they have the effrontery to mount the judgment seat, and judge the men compared with whom they are as so much chaff. Holy indignation may well prompt us to desire anything which may rid the world of such unbearable impertinence and detestable arrogance.

Let the lying lips be put to silence - As to my enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices. See Jer 18:18.

Let the lying lips be put to silence - See the notes at Psa 12:2-3. The lips which speak lies. The reference here is especially to those who had spoken in this manner against the psalmist himself, though he makes the language general, or prays in general that God would silence all liars: a prayer certainly in which all persons may properly join. Which speak grievous things - Margin, “a hard thing.” The Hebrew word - עתק ‛âthâq - means “bold, impudent, wicked.” Gesenius, Lexicon. The phrase here means, therefore, to speak wickedly, or to speak in a bold, reckless, impudent manner; that is, without regard to the truth of what is said. Proudly and contemptuously - Hebrew, in pride and contempt: that is, in a manner which shows that they are proud of themselves and despise others. Slander always perhaps implies this. People are secretly proud of themselves; or they “desire” to cherish an exalted opinion of themselves, and to have others entertain the same opinion of them; and hence, if they cannot exalt themselves by their own merit, as they wish, they endeavor to humble others below their real merit, and to a level lower than themselves, by detraction.