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Psalm 59:12

For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter.

10My God will go before me with his loving kindness. God will let me look at my enemies in triumph.
11Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.
12For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter.
13Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah.
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Notice

The plea to have enemies “caught in their pride” brings the harm of curses and lies before God with a severity that can be hard to read.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What is hardest for you to read in this plea against pride, curses, and lies?

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Where have you seen pride make someone less willing to answer for harmful words?

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What would entrusting judgment over harmful words to God look like in your prayers?

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Connect

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
Luke 6:45The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which …Both passages connect sinful speech with what is within a person: pride in the psalm, evil treasure in Luke.
Psalm 10:2In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.Both passages link arrogance with being caught, describing a trap bound up with the wrongdoers’ own pride or schemes.
Proverbs 12:13An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.Both passages connect sinful lips with entrapment, making harmful speech part of the speaker’s downfall.
Psalm 10:7His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.Cursing and deceit mark the mouths in both psalms, identifying speech itself as a form of wrongdoing.
Hosea 4:2There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.Both passages name cursing and lying among sins, while Hosea includes them within a wider account of violence and wrongdoing.
Proverbs 18:7A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.Both passages use the language of a trap to connect destructive speech with consequences for the speaker.
James 3:9With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God.Both passages treat cursing as a moral wrong, with James naming the dignity of those being cursed.
Psalm 31:18Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.Both prayers ask for action against lying lips and name pride as part of the speakers’ wrongdoing.
Matthew 12:36–37I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.Both passages connect spoken words with judgment: the psalm requests it, and Jesus says speakers will give account.
Lamentations 3:62the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.Both passages describe hostile people through their lips, making their speech part of the threat faced by the speaker.
Romans 3:14“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”Both passages name cursing as sinful speech, though Psalm 59 also names lies and asks for judgment.
Psalm 120:3–4What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you, you deceitful tongue?Both passages confront deceitful speech with the prospect of consequences, though Psalm 59 makes its request for judgment explicit.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. work conflict. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Write a prayer asking God to judge one harmful lie

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Encouragement

The harm done by curses and lies has a place in prayer. Here the appeal is severe: God is asked to judge the speakers for their sin.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 59:12. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 59 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).