But in reality the Psalmists mention hardly any kind of evil more often than this one, which the most civilised societies share. “Their throat is an open sepulchre, they flatter” (5, 10), “under his tongue is ungodliness and vanity”, or “perjury” as Dr. Moffatt translates it (10, 7), “deceitful lips” (12, 3), “lying lips” (31, 20), “words full of deceit” (36, 3), the “whispering” of evil men (41, 7), cruel lies that “cut like a razor” (52, 3), talk that sounds “smooth as oil” and will wound like a sword (55, 22), pitiless jeering (102, 8). It is all over the Psalter.
