Psalms 5:6
in Psalms 5You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou wilt destroy them that speak lies: Jehovah abhorreth the blood-thirsty and deceitful man.
KJV
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
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This verse in Psalms 5
Commentary
15 notes on this verseThou wilt destroy all who speak a lie. I see a new thing. He who works evil is held in hatred; he who lies, perishes. Let us see which is more, to be held in hatred by the Lord, or to perish. He who is held in hatred by God is indeed unhappy, because he is held in hatred by the Lord: but he still lives. But he who speaks a lie and perishes, has already ceased to be.
This site's exposition
a God who delights in wickedness
on Psalms 5:4-6
The plea now rests on God's own nature, that He delights in no wickedness and that evil cannot dwell with Him. Barnes glossed the word behind boastful as proud or insolent. Henry took these lines as a warning to the man praying.
This site's exposition
the man of bloodshed and deceit
The LORD abhors the man of bloods, as the Hebrew reads, and Albert Barnes took the plural as guilt of bloodshed. Bloodshed and deceit stand together, and the enemies of verse 9 speak lies and practice deceit. Shimei used the same phrase against David at 2 Samuel 16:7.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
The man of blood and the deceitful the Lord shall abhor. Every heretic is a man of blood; for daily he sheds the blood of souls. The man of blood and the deceitful. He rightly said, the deceitful: he is both a murderer, and deceitful. Why is he deceitful? He falsely fashions his own words into the words of the Lord. The man of blood and the deceitful the Lord shall abhor. See what a heretic is: the Lord shall abhor him. Of sinners he says, Thou hatest all who work iniquity; of false teachers, The Lord shall abhor them.
"The man of blood, and the crafty man, the Lord will abominate." What he said above, "Thou hast hated all that work iniquity, Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie," may well seem to be repeated here: so that one may refer "the man of blood" to "the worker of iniquity," and "the crafty man" to the "lie." For it is craft, when one thing is done, another pretended. He used an apt word too, when he said, "will abominate." For the disinherited are usually called abominated. Now this Psalm is, "for her who receiveth the inheritance."
"Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie." For this is the opposite to truth. But lest any one should suppose that any substance or nature is opposite to truth, let him understand that "a lie" has relation to that which is not, not to that which is. For if that which is be spoken, truth is spoken: but if that which is not be spoken, it is a lie. Therefore saith he, "Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie;" because drawing back from that which is, they turn aside to that which is not. Many lies indeed seem to be for some one's safety or advantage, spoken not in malice, but in kindness: such was that of those midwives in Exodus, who gave a false report to Pharaoh, to the end that the infants of the children of Israel might not be slain. But even these are praised not for the fact, but for the disposition shown; since those who only lie in this way, will attain in time to a freedom from all lying. For in those that are perfect, not even these lies are found. For to these it is said, "Let there be in your mouth, yea, yea; nay, nay; whatsoever is more, is of evil." Nor is it without reason written in another place, "The mouth that lieth slayeth the soul:" lest any should imagine that the perfect and spiritual man ought to lie for this temporal life, in the death of which no soul is slain, neither his own, nor another's. But since it is one thing to lie, another to conceal the truth (if indeed it be one thing to say what is false, another not to say what is true), if haply one does not wish to give a man up even to this visible death, he should be prepared to conceal what is true, not to say what is false; so that he may neither give him up, nor yet lie, lest he slay his own soul for another's body. […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here he shows how they are led to punishment, and he sets forth a threefold order. For there is a threefold degree in the way someone hates another. First, he holds him in hatred, willing evil to him in his heart. Second, he carries this …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
) of God's hating the bloody and deceitful man. "Now, Lord," says he, "that is the character of my enemies: they are deceitful; there is no trusting them, for there is no faithfulness in their mouth." They thought it was no sin to tell a deliberate lie if it might but blemish David, and render him odious. " Lord, lead me, " says he (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Thou shall destroy them that speak leasing,....
"They have by their sins deserved destruction; there is enough to justify God in their utter rejection: Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, by which they have filled up the measure of their iniquity and have become ripe for ruin." Persecuting God's servants fills the measure as soon as any thing, 1 Thess. ii.
There is a particular emphasis laid on these sinners ( Rev. xxi. 8 ), All liars, and ( Ps. xxii. 15 ), Whosoever loves and makes a lie; nothing is more contrary than this, and therefore nothing more hateful to the God of truth. [2.] Those that are cruel: Thou wilt abhor the bloody man; for inhumanity is no less contrary, no less hateful, to the God of mercy, whom mercy pleases.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
That speak leasing - Falsity, from the Anglo-Saxon leasunge, a lie, falsity, deceit; from leas, lie, which is from the verb leasian to lie. See on Psa 4:2 (note). The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man - איש דמים ish damim, the man of bloods; for he who has the spirit of a murderer, will rarely end with one bloodshedding. So the Jews, who clamored for the blood of our Lord, added to that, as far and as long as they could, the blood of his disciples.
Observe, that evil speakers must be punished as well as evil workers, for "thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing." All liars shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. A man may lie without danger of the law of man, but he will not escape the law of God. Liars have short wings, their flight shall soon be over, and they shall fall into the fiery floods of destruction. "The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man."
Observe, that evil speakers must be punished as well as evil workers, for "thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing." All liars shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. A man may lie without danger of the law of man, but he will not escape the law of God. Liars have short wings, their flight shall soon be over, and they shall fall into the fiery floods of destruction. "The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." Bloody men shall be made drunk with their own blood, and they who began by deceiving others shall end with being deceived themselves. Our old proverb saith, "Bloody and deceitful men dig their own graves." The voice of the people is in this instance the voice of God. How forcible is the word abhor! Does it not show us how powerful and deep-seated is the hatred of the Lord against the workers of iniquity?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thou shalt destroy - Thou wilt bring to ruin; thou wilt cause to perish; that is, cause to perish as the wicked are caused to perish, by being punished. The idea is that God could not approve their cause; could not favor them; could not give them prosperity, and that they must be overthrown and punished. As in the previous verses, so here, David refers to this as a general characteristic of God, but with an implied reference to his enemies. Them that speak leasing - Lies; the word “leasing” being the old Saxon word to denote falsehood. See Psa 4:2. It is not found elsewhere in our common version. The allusion here is to his enemies, and the idea is that they were false and treacherous; a description which will well apply to them on the supposition that this refers to the rebellion of Absalom. See the introduction to the psalm. The Lord will abhor - Will hate; will hold in abomination. That is, he will show his abhorrence by punishing such as are here referred to. The bloody and deceitful man - The man of blood and fraud; the man who sheds blood, and is guilty of treachery and fraud. Margin, “man of bloods and deceit.” The “man of bloods,” - “the plural form being commonly used where there is reference to blood-guiltiness or murder.” - “Prof. Alexander.” See Gen 4:10; Psa 51:14. The idea seems to be that of shedding “much” blood. The reference here, as before, is to a general characteristic of the Divine Mind, with a special reference to the character of David’s enemies, as being distinguished for fraud and blood-guiltiness. On the supposition (see introduction) that this refers to the rebellion of Absalom, there can be no difficulty in seeing the propriety of the application. It was on these grounds that the psalmist directed his prayer to God. […]
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּאַבֵּד֮ | teabed | you destroy | H6 → | 184 times |
| דֹּבְרֵ֪י | doerei | [those who] speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| כָ֫זָ֥ב | khazav | <of> falsehood | H3577 → | 31 times |
| אִישׁ־ | ʾish- | everyone of | H376 → | 1663 times |
| דָּמִ֥ים | damim | blood<s> | H1818 → | 360 times |
| וּמִרְמָ֗ה | umirmah | and deceit | H4820 → | 39 times |
| יְתָ֘עֵ֥ב׀ | yetaev | he abhors | H8581 → | 22 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
תְּאַבֵּד֮you destroy
teabedH6 →184 times
דֹּבְרֵ֪י[those who] speak
doereiH1696 →1141 times
כָ֫זָ֥ב<of> falsehood
khazavH3577 →31 times
אִישׁ־everyone of
ʾish-H376 →1663 times
דָּמִ֥יםblood<s>
damimH1818 →360 times
וּמִרְמָ֗הand deceit
umirmahH4820 →39 times
יְתָ֘עֵ֥ב׀he abhors
yetaevH8581 →22 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 21:8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 2:11
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.
- Ephesians 5:5–6
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Revelation 20:14–15
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Through
Revelation 22:15But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:8
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
- Galatians 5:19–21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Philippians 3:2
Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh!
- Revelation 21:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 5; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Jerome, Homily 2, on Psalm 5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.