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Psalm 52:3
You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking the truth. Selah.
1For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to Ahimelech’s house.” Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man? God’s loving kindness endures continually.
2Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking the truth. Selah.
4You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue.
5God will likewise destroy you forever. He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
Notice
“You love” makes David’s charge against Doeg unsettling: deceit is described as something cherished, with evil preferred over good and truth pushed aside.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What difference do you see between telling a lie and loving lying?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, are you tempted to prefer a useful lie over speaking the truth?
Write on thisConnect
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
Jeremiah 9:3–5“They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. They have grown strong in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t …Both passages join evil with false speech, exposing tongues used for lies rather than truth.
John 8:44You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because …Both texts connect lying with desire: David condemns love of lies, and Jesus links lying with the devil and his desires.
2 Timothy 3:4traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,Both passages expose corrupt loves: Psalm 52 names love of evil, while Timothy names love of pleasure over God.
Micah 3:2You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;Both passages name love of evil over good; Micah adds a violent picture of people tearing flesh from bones.
Romans 1:25who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.Both passages describe a preference for lies over truth, with Romans naming the exchange of God’s truth for a lie.
Revelation 22:15Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.Both passages condemn love of falsehood; Revelation also names its practice and places those who love it outside.
Ephesians 4:25Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.Both passages contrast lying with speaking truth; Ephesians directs that truthful speech toward a neighbor.
Jeremiah 4:22“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know …Both passages contrast evil with good, describing love of evil in the psalm and skill at evil in Jeremiah.
Psalm 62:4They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.Love of lying in Psalm 52 becomes delight in lies in Psalm 62, where spoken blessing conceals inward curses.
Jeremiah 9:8Their tongue is a deadly arrow. It speaks deceit. One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart, he waits to ambush him.Both passages condemn deceitful speech; their surrounding images compare the tongue to a sharp razor and a deadly arrow.
Psalm 36:4He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.Both psalms describe an attachment to evil: loving it in Psalm 52 and plotting it without abhorrence in Psalm 36.
Mark 14:1It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception …Deceit serves harm in both settings: Psalm 52 describes a destructive tongue, and Mark records a plot to seize and kill through deception.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. temptation. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Deceit that someone cherishes is a grave wrong. David names it without excuse, and the surrounding psalm places the deceitful speaker under God’s judgment.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 52:3. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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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).