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Psalm 12:4
who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?”
2Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
3May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts,
4who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?”
5“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”
6The LORD’s words are flawless words, as silver refined in a clay furnace, purified seven times.
Notice
“Our lips are our own” turns speech into a claim of unchecked power, exposing the defiance beneath the speakers’ confidence that their words will win.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
Where have you seen words used to win power over someone rather than tell the truth?
Write on thisWhat would acknowledging God as Lord change about a conversation you expect this week?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
1 Corinthians 6:19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,The speakers claim ownership of their lips; Paul tells believers that their bodies belong to God and house his Spirit.
Psalm 39:1For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David. I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle …Both passages concern the tongue: Psalm 12 records unchecked boasting, while Psalm 39 expresses resolve to restrain speech and avoid sin.
James 3:5–6So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!Both passages describe the tongue boasting, with James comparing its capacity for harm to a small fire spreading through a forest.
Exodus 5:2Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”Pharaoh’s refusal to heed the LORD echoes the speakers’ challenge to anyone who would exercise lordship over them.
2 Thessalonians 2:4He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.Both texts portray defiance of divine authority, though the figure in Thessalonians goes further by setting himself up as God.
Job 21:14–15They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways.Both passages report people speaking in defiance of God, rejecting his ways or denying any lord over them.
Jeremiah 18:18Then they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. …The tongue serves as a means of domination in both passages, with Jeremiah’s opponents planning to strike him through speech.
Genesis 3:5for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”The connection is limited: both contain speech about human standing before God, but Genesis speaks of becoming like God.
Daniel 3:15Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which …Both speeches challenge divine power, with Daniel’s speaker threatening a furnace and questioning whether any god can deliver.
Psalm 100:3Know that the LORD, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.Psalm 100 declares that people belong to the LORD, directly contrasting with the claim that the speakers’ lips are their own.
Judges 17:6In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.Both describe people treating their own judgment as sufficient, though Judges names the absence of a king and Psalm 12 records defiance.
Job 21:15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’Both passages quote questions that challenge God’s authority, treating service to him or submission to a lord as something to dismiss.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. work conflict. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
People who boast that their words will prevail can cause real harm. In the surrounding verses, God hears the needy and declares that he will act against their oppression.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).